I Think I've Finally Cracked!
by Chichirifan
Summary: This is about Ruka, a small boy, who's Japanese but grew up in America, can't understand a word of Japanese! Rated T just in case. Yaoi. Real summary inside. FINALLY! Its updated! I'm sorry for the long wait!
1. Outsider

REAL SUMMARY: Okay, here's a bit of info for you reviewers out there. "This is about a boy named Ruka, who can't speak much Japanese, mysteriously enters the Naruto world in the Wave Country but...he doesn't know how he got there! He is rescued by Tazuna's family then later, leaves with Team 7 to Konoha. All the while, he meets another person who's in the similar situation as him but is Japanese. Apparently, someone is after Ruka but who? And what's this? The newcomers are WHAT?! But they better hurry or Ruka will loose everything, even his name!" Now, if you don't like a bit of OC yaoi, then...WHY THE HELL ARE YOU READING THIS? That includes you, PhantomFaustfan and anyone who dislikes reading or watching any yaoi! All right, thank you! Now, enjoy the story!

_'Japanese or English thoughts.'_

"Japanese." - _"English."_

_"English to _Japanese words._"_

--(START SCENE)--

Mission 1 - "Outsider."

Twitch. Twitch.

_"So...I'm still in the...Wave Country...?"_ A young girl asked out loud. Her right eye twitched as she stared out into the big, blue sea outside in the back of Tazuna's small house once again. _"I still can't believe I'm here. It's like a dream come true! My friends are gonna be SO jealous! ...Oh...heh heh, that is, if they're here."_ She mumbled sadly. She bent her head down and saw her reflection in the water before lowering herself until she lay down on her stomach, lazily watching its currents go by.

_'Dammit, I still can't figure out how I got here! I wonder if my friends are worried about me? Hmm, I doubt it. Who would worry about a fag like me?'_ The girl thought.

She rubbed her nose, which had a bandage across it, trying to get use to smelling the salty ocean and playfully glared at the water before smiling a little. _'Heh, if it scars, I'll look just like Iruka-sensei! Kyaaa! Maybe I shouldn't've gotten so excited then I wouldn't have hit that stupid tree.'_ The girl thought, pushing her loose bangs out of her face. Then she frowned then sighed.

_"Man, if only I studied Japanese a little more harder then I wouldn't be having such a hard time understanding them!"_ She whined, madly clawing her hair out of its ponytail with her hands.

"Ruka-chan!"

The girl, known as Ruka, turned around to see Inari's mother, Tsunami, standing there with a gentle smile on her face before quickly getting up, forgetting about her now messed up hair with the band barely hanging onto the left side of her hair, which looked like it just survived a civil war. Ruka quickly bowed to her, receiving a light chuckle from the woman. "Heh heh heh. What are you doing out here, messing up such pretty hair like yours, Ruka-chan? Why don't you come inside and fix your hair?" Tsunami waved a hand towards the house since they discovered she couldn't speak their language. Ruka blinked then nodded upon realizing what she meant, walking ahead with Inari's mother following behind until they entered through the door inside the house.

It's only been four days since Ruka arrived into the world in the Wave Country but still, every early morning, she would think it would all be a dream. Of course, you can't blame her. She didn't know how she had gotten there but all she remembered was being on shore before Inari and Tazuna found her. But whether it was a dream or not, she always went with Tazuna to help build the bridge, despite the warnings she received, though she couldn't understand but knew what they were trying to say. Luckily, all five of her moving bags were saved, just wet but by now, they're just fine and dry.

Tazuna laughed heartily when he saw Ruka's hair all messed up while Inari just stared at the girl like she was stupid. Ruka blinked then grinned sheepishly when she remembered her hair, scratching her nose a little before walking off to the guest room she was using. She went in and grabbed her smallest bag then unclipped it from the strap that keeps it shut, reaching in and pulled out a yellow brush in hand. She pulled her hair back in a ponytail then brushed it for a couple of minutes before tying it with the same band until it became a high ponytail again.

_"Good. That's better!"_ Ruka smiled at herself.

She walked out of the room and into the living room to see Tazuna saying goodbye to his family and she knew the reason why, it's just she couldn't understand him. Ruka walked over to him until she got his attention. Then she smiled and lifted her hand up with a small wave. _"Ja ne, Tazuna-san."_ She whispered in Japanese, putting her hand down.

Hey, just because she can't understand doesn't mean she can't learn!

Tazuna smiled and petted her head.

"That's right. Good, your language skills are improving a little. Keep it up." He encouraged before turning to Inari.

"Now, Inari, I want you to be the man of the house and protect your mother and our guest while I'm away, okay?" Tazuna asked, throwing his pack on his back.

Inari only nodded then hugged his grandpa tightly around his middle, crying, trying to tell him not to go when they're only going to die. Ruka didn't understand it but knew little Inari didn't want his grandpa to go, saying something about dying or whatever. But Ruka watched as Inari let go and Tazuna left to Konoha Village before growing angry with herself and the men, who keep tormenting this poor village.

_'Dammit! Even back at home, my skills aren't good enough! Argh, I already know how to do the signs with my hands and I'm still practicing with the one hand thing but I need help how to control my chakra if I ever wanna do something about it! ARRGH!'_

Her arms were instantly in front of her and twitching rapidly (you know when anime characters go loony, it's a bit like that but twitchy so go ahead and imagine it) from all the excitement and irony of it all, getting weird looks from Inari and Tsunami before sighing. They figured she just had a twitching problem whenever she thinks too much or something's too much for her to handle.

It's like she's hyperventilating but it's just a habit of hers, I think.

"Ruka-chan, why don't you help me make breakfast? I'm sure everyone's hungry." Tsunami suggested kindly.

She blinked stupidly at her, not sure what she was saying until Inari's mother waved to the kitchen then she got it. Ruka happily nodded and followed her to the kitchen to help.

_'For now, this is all I can do. But I swear, I'll keep practicing until I master it! ...And god dammit, I gotta learn how to speak Japanese!'_

_(NEXT SCENE)_

"Ruka! You've been working hard in Tazuna's absence but I think you should go home. Take a break." Tazuna's best friend yelled over. Ruka, who was carrying some of the building wood over, blinked at him, still not understanding everything but only the last sentence. She nodded and put the wood down, wiping her arm over her forehead before blinked upon seeing the fog appear then grinned widely.

_"_Tazuna-san's_ here!"_ Ruka squealed, dancing in circles before running off, which received odd looks from the workers.

_'Tazuna-san's here! Even Team seven is here! Oooh, I can't wait to meet them!'_ The brunette mentally squealed as she kept running.

Unfortunately, Ruka is a bit clumsy so she gets into a lot of trouble. She squeaked in pain when her foot twisted on the side, sending her stumbling sideways towards the railing. She ran into it and flipped over as she fell towards the water...which is hundreds of feet below!

_"THIS IS SO NOT COOOOOL!"_

With that, she hit the waters with a huge splash, gasping for breath but all she got was salty water in her mouth. She quickly swam to the surface; breaking through with coughs and gasps while splashing for a minute before calming down. Ruka finally opened her eyes and looked around then flailed her arms angrily in the air, not even realizing she was splashing the entire time.

_"Ahhh, GREAT! Why Did I Have To Be So Stupid At A Time Like This?!"_ She wailed.

"Iruka-sensei?! What Are You Doing Out Here?"

She blinked her teary eyes when she felt a pair of hands under her flailing arms and lifted her up onto a boat. She snapped her head around to see only a mass of blonde hair and blue eyes in her sight. _"Eh? Na...ru...to...?"_ Ruka whispered in shock. Naruto blinked, not sure if he heard the girl call his name once realized this wasn't his sensei.

Well, so far as he could see, she didn't seem dangerous or anything like that. She had dark brown hair tied up in a high ponytail with a few bangs over her face and pearly black eyes just like his father figure, Iruka. She wore a plain white shirt with almost elbow length sleeves and a wide collar around her neck, white pants that reached above her knees by two or three inches, and underneath are net like clothing (I dunno what they're called but think of it as Shikamaru's net like clothing) that were a few inches longer than the sleeves, sticking out a bit, and navy blue sandals that were similar to what all the jounins (not sure if everyone wears them) wear in Konoha.

Her skin wasn't as tan as his Iruka, her height was a couple inches shorter than him, and she looked about his age, though she really lacked in the chest area. She seems fine and her figure was thin and slender and she looked fairly healthy. Push aside the bandage on her nose and she probably is the feminine version of his former sensei. But something was off with this girl that Naruto didn't like, though.

"Hey, do you think she's the enemy?" The blonde asked.

"Most likely. But she seems pretty weak to be the enemy." Sasuke hmphed.

"I doubt it. I mean, maybe she's the one we heard that fell off the bridge earlier." Sakura said.

Ruka, who was rubbing her hurt ankle, glared with a pout, understanding the "weak" part.

_'How weak do they think I am?! Besides the fact that I nearly got killed by falling off the bridge! ...Okay, I'm clumsy so what?! That doesn't prove a thing!'_

"Nah, she's not the enemy. My grandson and I found the girl on shore a few days ago and she didn't have any weapons on her so she's completely harmless." Tazuna explained.

_"_Tazuna-san!_ You're back!"_ Ruka cried excitedly.

"Shhh! Be quiet! You don't want them to know we're here, don't you?!" The boat owner hissed quietly, looking around uneasily. Ruka slapped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide when she understood the shush part. Then she released her hands off her mouth, making her hands look like butterfly wings on each side of her face as she gave a sheepish smile. _"Sorry about that."_ She muttered quietly. "Huh? What did she say? She talks weird." Naruto said, scratching his head.

Everyone shrugged in answer, which made Ruka sweatdrop, having forgotten about her situation.

"Ah, I'm sorry about that. I forgot to introduce you all. This is Ruka, she's pretty small but she's a hard worker so I let her help me with the bridge." Tazuna chuckled.

Kakashi placed a hand under his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm...but why is she speaking a different language?" He asked.

"I don't know but I figure she's from a different country but I don't know anyone who can speak the way she does." The bridge builder replied, rubbing the back of his head. "But she seems to understand when you separate the words. She understands most words but not all. Like this."

Ruka blinked when she noticed Tazuna was staring at her. "All right, Ruka. Tree."

"Tree?"

"Good. Now...water."

"Water, water, water!"

"Very good. Heh, I figured that's her favorite word." Tazuna chuckled.

"We can see that." Sasuke snorted.

"Anyway, back to the situation at hand. Try...bandit."

"Ban...dit?"

Yes, that's right. Now try...horse."

"Horse?"

"Nice, good job. Now-"

"Ninja!" Ruka chirped, pointing at the now thoroughly confused ninjas. "Ninja, ninja, ninja, ninja!" Ruka continued her rant until Sasuke smacked her over the mouth.

"Shut up. We get it, we get it!" He snapped quietly.

Then, for some reason, Ruka glared at him and slapped his hand off her mouth before pointing accusingly at him. "Bad. Bad. EVIILLLL!" Ruka exclaimed. Sasuke gave the brown-haired girl a weird look while the others looked confused at her statement. "All right, now. Settle down, let me see your ankle." Kakashi waved, bored. The child blinked when he grabbed her foot and was about to attempt to smack him senseless when she realized his fingers were pressing down a little on her injury.

"AH!" Ruka winced.

"I thought so. You really should be more careful if you want to help Tazuna finish the bridge." Kakashi sighed, pulling out some bandages from one of the weapon bags.

"What's wrong, Kakashi-sensei? Is she hurt?" Sakura asked worriedly as they watched him wrap the bandages on Ruka's injured ankle.

"Yes. Apparently, that little fall she took did a bit of damage so she shouldn't be walking for a couple of days but she should be fine." Kakashi explained, finishing his job. The brown-haired girl blinked when he released her foot and stared at it for a moment and moved it a bit before smiling brightly for the elite jounin.

_"Arigatou, Kakashi-sensei!"_ She grinned.

Kakashi blinked then coughed into his hand, looking away immediately but Ruka kept smiling.

Ruka then stopped smiling all of a sudden and looked up at the bridge as if realizing she was suppose to be up there. Then she looked at Tazuna and pointed up, flailing the other arm as she spoke.

"Up! Bridge! Work! Boat! Tazuna-san! Happy! Run! Ouchie! Foot! Trip! Fall! Water! SPLASH!" Ruka tried to say something but it came out in syllables.

"Okay, okay, what the hell is she saying, old man?" Naruto demanded, only to have Sakura smack him upside the head. "Shut up, Naruto! We have to be quiet!" She hissed. "I have no idea. I try to understand but I just...can't. Her way of saying things is just too hard to understand." Tazuna looked terribly lost while Kakashi pieced together the girl's words before lifting a hand up.

"I was up on the bridge, working until I saw you on the boat nearby. I was happy so I ran ahead to meet you but I hurt my foot and tripped so I fell off and hit the water with a big splash." Kakashi said monotonously.

Everyone, even Ruka, who barely understood Japanese, stared at the jounin like he grew another head. Then Ruka dived at Kakashi and hugged him for all she's worth, grinning from ear to ear as Kakashi's eye widen considerably at this. "Yes, yes! Right, right!" She chirped excitedly.

"SHHH!"

Within minutes, they made it to shore as the fog finally cleared. Everyone got off and thanked the owner of the boat for his help as Ruka suddenly stopped and moved her legs apart while being careful of her injury then held her arms out like a gorilla or a sumo wrestler. Sakura blinked along with the others before speaking up.

"Hey, what are you-AH!"

Ruka started furiously shaking herself, water drops flying everywhere before stopping, grinning from ear to ear and when she turned around, her grin turned into a sheepish one when she saw everyone staring/glaring at her, all wet, more or less. Ruka rubbed the back of her head with a small blush on her cheeks. _"Heheh, opps. _Sorry._"_ Ruka chuckled nervously. "Grrr! You Think That's Funny! C'mere, You Little Brat!" Naruto yelled. Naruto chased the girl around in circles for a bit until Ruka decided to take refuge on Kakashi by flinging herself at him, arms around his neck and legs around his torso, whimpering as Kakashi almost fell over at the sudden force.

"Whoa! Hey, what are you doing?" He demanded, only to receive a small whimper from Ruka.

He sighed then looked to see Naruto trying to get at the girl in his arms. "Naruto, stop it! I'm sure she didn't mean it." Kakashi assured, petting the blonde's hair with his free hand.

"But she was laughing at us! You heard her!" Naruto argued.

"I don't think she meant it. She did say she was sorry, didn't she? Remember, she can't speak the way we do so try not to misunderstand her, okay?" Kakashi said.

The blonde grumbled then nodded with a cross of his arms, bottom lips sticking out with a fox look on his face. Ruka giggled at this and then gasped before lifting her head up, speaking in separate words to the elite jounin while Kakashi pulled his head back a little so he could see the girl without getting hit by her flailing arms. "Please! Help! Train! Kakashi-sensei! Know! Techniques! Don't! Control! Chakra! Kage Bushin no Jutsu! Henge no Jutsu! Some! Ninjutsu! Genjutsu! Taijutsu!" She exclaimed before taking a deep breath from saying all that in one breath, receiving a shocked expression from the man.

"Um, Kakashi-sensei, what's she saying?" Sakura asked, a little surprised as well.

"...Please help me! I want to train with you guys. I know some techniques but I don't know how to use my chakra. I know Kage Bushin no Jutsu and Henge no Jutsu and some other Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and Taijutsu, too." Kakashi translated.

"What? No way! She can't just demand something like that with just the snap of her fingers! Who does she think she is?" Naruto growled. "Hmm, Ruka, I don't think it's wise to train with us, especially if we're on a mission that might be dangerous. You should stay and help Tazuna build the bridge." Kakashi said, putting the girl down as they followed Tazuna to his home. Ruka shook her head and pulled at Kakashi's sleeve.

_"No, no! You got it all wrong! Well, it didn't come out the way I wanted it but you were close but that's beside the point! I wanna learn how to control my chakra 'cause before you guys were here, I was practicing and I got it right but I didn't know how to use or control my chakra unless someone helps me! Please, help me with my chakra control!"_ Ruka asked.

Unfortunately, that time, they didn't understand anything she just asked. "Um, Kakashi-sensei, did you understand what she just said?" Naruto asked quietly.

"Um, that time...no." Kakashi mumbled, rubbing his head to ease the headache.

Ruka groaned loudly and ran ahead, yelling all sorts of stuff that sounded a lot like, "Stupid!" or "Language!" or something along the lines until she grabbed a tree and, for some CRAZY reason, started banging her head against it. Tazuna, Sakura, and Naruto scrambled over and had to peel her off the tree to stop inflicting pain on herself as Sasuke grunted and Kakashi sighed, a hand over his face. Then Ruka rubbed her forehead a little to ease the throbbing pain (wonder whose fault that was) and glared at Kakashi before yelling again.

"No! Mean! Already! Know! Techniques! Need! Help! Control! Chakra! Fine!" Ruka grounded out.

"Oh...OH! That's what she meant!" Kakashi eye smiled. "What did she say?" Sasuke asked.

"She didn't mean it like that. She meant she already knows some techniques and she needs my help with her chakra control then she'll be just fine." The silver-haired jounin grinned.

"Are you sure that's what she said?" Naruto demanded, not buying it in the least.

"Yes, Naruto, I'm sure. Anyway, let's continue on." Kakashi groaned tiredly. _'I just want to get this over with already.'_

"Kakashi-sensei? Please?" Ruka whispered, attaching herself on the jounin's arm.

The copy ninja sighed then nodded, which Ruka squealed with happiness and jumped a little to give him a quick peck on the masked cheek. At this, Kakashi almost back paddled in shock at Ruka's innocent action, staring at the brown-haired girl as the ever-oblivious Ruka tilted her head a little to the side and blinked cutely, wondering what's wrong with him. But she smiled at him with her hands folded behind her back, walking off with a spin or skip here and there as she hummed a little before singing, though they couldn't understand but still, it was pleasant.

_"Mr. Raccoon, Mr. Raccoon, can't you play with me somehow?"_

_"No, I can't. I am eating dinner now."_

_"What's for dinner? I want some!"_

_"I am eating pickled plums."_

_"Can I have a little crumb?"_

_"Don't be such a greedy bum! Get your own! (battle cry in Japanese)"_

The jounin blinked upon hearing the song then his eye went half-lidded in tranquility. _'Hmm, what kind of song is she singing? It's a bit too homely but...it has a nice ring to it.'_ Kakashi thought as he watched the little girl skip and jump as she hummed as if she didn't have a care in the world. _'Wow! Whatever it is, it sounds like a nice song! I hope I can learn to sing it when she can speak our language soon!'_ Sakura thought with a smile.

_'What the hell is she singing? It's stupid!'_ Sasuke mentally grumbled.

_'What's she talking about? Is she talking trash about me?! Grrr! I'll prove to her and everyone else that I'm the greatest and one day, I'll be a Hokage!'_ Naruto thought.

Naruto then decided to run ahead a little and throw a kunai in one direction, scaring everyone, which made them all quiet and alert. Then Naruto mumbled something about it was probably a mouse and repeated it once more. When Kakashi checked it to see it was a quite terrified and traumatize white rabbit, an angry pink-haired kunoichi clobbered him.

Ruka started cooing at the poor rabbit then glared hotly at Naruto. "Bad, Naruto! Bad! Bad!" She declared.

"What?! Hey, I said I was sorry! I thought it was the enemy! I'm sorry, you poor little rabbit! I didn't mean it!" Naruto wailed, hugging the poor animal.

Kakashi looked around the area as the children argued in the back, trying to figure out why the rabbit had white fur when it wasn't winter anymore. His eye widens in realization and whipped around. "Everyone, get down!"

Everyone dropped to the ground just when a HUGE sword sailed right over them and hit a tree, implanting itself in it. _"Oh my god! That was...too close!"_ Ruka whispered with her brown head under her arms. Everyone looked up to see a bare-chest man with bandages wrapped around his mouth and nose stand on the handle of the sword in the tree, glancing down at them over his shoulder. Before Kakashi could say anything, Ruka jumped up on her feet, legs apart as she pointing accusingly.

"ZABUZA-SAN! ZABUZA-SAN! ROGUE NINJA! ROGUE NINJA!" Ruka shouted with awe.

Zabuza smirked a little as Team seven and Tazuna got up from the ground.

"I see. So they hired a bunch of brats to protect the bridge builder." The mist ninja sneered as he turned to face them. "Hey! Who are you calling brats, huh?!" Naruto yelled, waving an angry fist in the air. Naruto tried to run at him but Kakashi held his hand out in front of him, stopping the boy from attacking. "You're in the way. Get back." Kakashi ordered in a low, icy tone.

"But why?!"

"He's not like those other ninja. He's in a whole other league. If he's our opponent, I'll need this." Kakashi grabbed the hitae-ate but didn't lift it...yet.

"Now, quick! Manji Formation. Protect the bridge builder and the girl...and stay out of this fight!" He ordered.

The others were in awe, intensely watching him, waiting for him to lift that band. "I taught you teamwork. Now it's time to use it!" Kakashi said then lifted it to reveal his Sharingan eye.

"I'm ready!"

Everyone, even the infamous and powerful ninja, Zabuza, jumped with Ruka squealed loudly and started going twitchy again, despite the seriousness of the situation. Ruka's face went from twisted to ear-to-ear grin as she jumped a few times in the same spot. "Sharingan! Sharingan! Kakashi-sensei! COOOOL!!" She squealed.

"..." That's everyone's reaction to the girl.

_'She's cute but...she needs to keep the volume down.'_ Kakashi sighed.

Sasuke growled before reaching over and smacked her a good one in the back of the head. Ruka yelped and crouched down on the ground, ducking her head with her hands rubbing her poor little head, grumbling words they couldn't understand or...they just couldn't. Then she looked up and glared accusingly at the Uchiha, who grunted and turned back to the current situation at hand. Zabuza blinked then narrowed his cold eyes on the kneeling girl as if he recognized her.

"Hmm...there was another person I was suppose to annihilate. A little girl with brown hair and white clothes, whose been causing nothing but trouble and misfortune for Gato's men for the past few days. Hidden trap holes, missing weapons, and a few other pranks... all caused by one, small girl." Zabuza said, not caring if the others heard.

"What?" The ninjas turned to see the said girl, who blinked upon realizing what caught everyone's attention.

_"What's wrong with you guys? Why are you staring at me like that?"_ Ruka whined softly, shrinking back until she hid behind Tazuna.

"She did that? To Gato's MEN?!" Kakashi whispered disbelievingly as he glanced at the small, frail girl. _'But that's impossible! A girl like Ruka could never stand a chance against Gato's men! Even if she could, how did she escape...alive!?'_ The jounin thought and turned to face Zabuza. "We'll talk about that later. Right now, what's most important is to protect the bridge builder!"

Ruka watched the genins surrounded them and both Kakashi and Zabuza fought until Kakashi was caught in his Water Prison Jutsu. When Sasuke tried to attack and was thrown aside like a sack of potatoes and Naruto shaking like a leaf, Ruka tried to go to them but Tazuna grabbed her wrist before she could.

"Don't, Ruka! You'll just get killed!" Tazuna warned.

Ruka blinked, not sure what he's saying but got the picture by his expression on his face and backed down.

_'Sure but...I can't stand feeling helpless! I wanna do something to help but...I'll only get in the way.'_ She thought, angry with herself.

The girl then decided not to pay attention to the battle and crouched down, drawing on the dirt in patience but her brow kept twitching every now and then in excitement but held back, even when Naruto and Sasuke freed their sensei. But she did pay attention when Kakashi and Zabuza used the Water Style, Water Dragon Jutsu at the same time, which made the water hit them. Unfortunately, Ruka didn't prepare as she yelped and was dragged under water by its powerful currents as Sakura, Sasuke, and even the bridge builder attempted to help her but she slipped away.

Well, the good thing is that she wasn't completely swept away.

But the bad thing that she was stopped by hitting a tree with her back and was held there until the water ceased, leaving her sputtering and coughing on her hands and knees.

Tazuna ran over to help her as Kakashi almost made the final blow but a tracker ninja beat him to it by using senbon needles. When Ruka got all the water out of her lungs and looked up to see Kakashi checking to see any signs of life remaining in Zabuza's body. Then she got up and ran over to the silver-haired jounin, ignoring Tazuna's shout to come back but tripped because of her injured ankle and fell at Kakashi's feet, who looked mildly amused as he looked down at the girl.

"O...Ouchie! Face. Hurt." Ruka whimpered, rubbing her dirty face with the back of her hand.

"Heh heh, you need to be careful...if you want to be a ninja." He eye smiled.

Ruka blinked stupidly at him. Kakashi sweatdropped when he remembered she couldn't speak their language.

Naruto started shouting at the boy, demanding to know why he killed Zabuza. "Easy, Naruto." Kakashi said, walking over to the upset blonde. "That's not the point. We were struggling to fight Zabuza and he takes him down in, like, one blow! He made it look so easy! What does that make us? We're just playing around! How can I accept that?!" Kakashi stopped near Naruto then glanced over.

"Even if you don't accept it, it DID happen, Naruto." Kakashi bent down a little then patted the boy's head with his hand. The tracker ninja quickly came down and appeared next to Zabuza's body before picking it up.

"Your suffering is over for now. I must take care of the remains. Farewell." He whispered and disappeared with the body.

Ruka watched sadly as Naruto ran to the spot where the tracker and the body use to be before falling on his knees and punching the ground with his fists in anger, not hearing Kakashi's sigh as he pulled his headband down. _'He's angry. And...he's hurting.'_ Ruka thought.

She forced herself to stand up as best she could with her injured ankle before limping over until she was beside the demon vessel. Naruto blinked when Ruka's hands grasped his fist, holding it almost delicately then placed a kiss on it, receiving a dark blush from the blonde before rubbing a thumb over the bruised knuckles.

"Naruto-san. Stop. Hand. Hurt. Sad. Naruto-san. Broken. Tazuna-san. Home. Please." She whispered sadly.

Naruto squinted his eyes at her, trying to decipher her weird way of communicating but couldn't. "Uh, Kakashi-sensei, I STILL don't get what she's saying." He mumbled. Kakashi sighed then glanced over.

"I want you to stop hurting yourself. I feel sad that you're broken up about this. Let's go to Tazuna-san's home, please." He replied, quietly.

Naruto looked away a bit, a little relieved that someone worried over him and a bit shamed to make the little girl come close to tears. Sure, she didn't understand Japanese but she understood what they were going through. Ruka closed her eyes to keep her tears in and, still holding Naruto's fist, she pulled it in front of her face while her body was shaking a little, whispering_, "Onegai."_ a few times.

Naruto sighed then pulled his hand away to place on top of her head, which Ruka blinked, teary-eyed. "Hey. Stop crying. I'll stop, just don't cry anymore, okay?" He said quietly, hoping it would calm the distressed girl. Despite her language problem, she seems to understand as she smiled a little before nodding. Then Tazuna sighed heavily as he rubbed his head. "We better head to my place. I'll let you guys rest there when we get home." He chuckled.

"All right, team, let's go. We need to take the bridge builder to his bridge." Kakashi announced turning away as they began to walk.

But, for some reason, Ruka was alert suddenly. "Kakashi-sensei!"

Just when she said that, Kakashi's body froze and then fell on the ground, unconscious.

--(END SCENE)--

Onegai (please)

Kunoichi (female ninja)

Ja ne (see you; see you later)

Hitae-ate (forehead protector; headband)

Nursery Song from Pom Poko

**-Sensei** (Used after the name of a teacher. An example is Iruka-sensei.)

**-Sama** (Used only on formal occasions, and to show a great deal of respect. An example of Tsunada-sama, Gaara-sama, or Hokage-sama.)

**-San** (The most commen suffix. It can be used after either the first name, last name, or the entire name. Some examples are Hatake-san, Kakashi-san, or Hatake Kakashi-san.)

**-Chan** (Used for babies, small children, and close friends. It is used after the first name. An example of Sakura-chan or Ino-chan.)

**-Kun** (Used after a boys name, although sometimes for girls as well. It can be used after the first or last name. An example of Neji-kun or Hyuuga-kun.)

**-Dono** (Used after the entire name of a man or woman. This is only used on rare formal occasions. An example of Uchiha Itachi-dono or Hyuuga Hinata-dono.)

**-Tachi** (Used when referring to a group of people. An example would be saying Tazuna-tachi. This means Tazuna and everyone with him.)


	2. Learning

REAL SUMMARY: Okay, here's a bit of info for you reviewers out there. "This is about a boy named Ruka, who can't speak much Japanese, mysteriously enters the Naruto world in the Wave Country but...he doesn't know how he got there! He is rescued by Tazuna's family then later, leaves with Team 7 to Konoha. All the while, he meets another person who's in the similar situation as him but is Japanese. Apparently, someone is after Ruka but who? And what's this? The newcomers are WHAT?! But they better hurry or Ruka will loose everything, even his name!" Now, if you don't like a bit of OC yaoi, then...WHY THE HELL ARE YOU READING THIS? That includes you, PhantomFaustfan and anyone who dislikes reading or watching any yaoi! All right, thank you! Now, enjoy the story!

_'Japanese or English thoughts.'_

"Japanese." - _"English."_

_"English to _Japanese words._"_

--(START SCENE)--

Mission 2 - "Learning."

"All right. Do you know what this is?"

"...Flower?"

_'Who's there? Who's talking?'_

"Good. Now, how about this one?"

"...Red?"

_'Huh? How'd I end up here?'_ Kakashi slowly blinked his good eye open and glanced to the side to see Ruka and another woman (Tsunami) sitting at a portable table with some paper, ink, and a brush. Apparently, this woman was writing something every time Ruka tried to figure out each kanji.

"Very good. Now what does this say when you put them together?"

"...Sakura?"

"Hmm, close but not quite. Try again."

"...Rose?"

"Very good! Oh! Looks like someone's awake." Tsunami giggled.

Ruka blinked then turned around to see Kakashi watching them then grinned. "Kakashi-sensei!" She exclaimed brightly.

At her outburst, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Tazuna came in as Kakashi looked up at the ceiling, still a bit disoriented but okay. "You're awake, sensei." Naruto said. "State the obvious, dope." Sasuke grunted. "What Did You Say?!" Naruto shouted. Sakura socked him a good one and threatened him to behave himself as Naruto tried to ease the pink-haired girl of his dream's nerves by reminding her that Kakashi was still there. Sakura glared at him warningly but everyone settled down.

"Kakashi-sensei, if using your Sharingan really puts a strain on your body, maybe it's better not to use it at all." Sakura said meekly.

The jounin sighed. "Wish that was possible but that's out of the question."

"But you're okay, right, sensei?" Naruto asked. "I've felt better." Kakashi grunted as he slowly sat up.

Almost immediately, Ruka crawled over and helped him sit up before going back to studying with Tsunami in less than twenty seconds. Kakashi gave her a weird look as Sakura giggled a little. "She's been worried about you. Ruka and Tsunami were helping to make you better. Then she helped us with our injuries, though these two refused her help entirely." Sakura pointed at Sasuke and Naruto.

"Hey! I don't hurt easily! See? The cuts have healed!" Naruto declared loudly.

"Shut up, you idiot. Besides, this isn't much so why fuss over it?" Sasuke snorted.

Ruka furrowed her brows for a minute then a light bulb lit above her head. She got on her feet and ran off somewhere then you could hear a loud thump then more scrambling feet. Team seven sweatdropped but Tsunami and Tazuna didn't seem surprised or worried.

"Oh, don't be too hard on her. Ruka is a very kind person and she likes to help. Sure, she's a bit-"

You could hear another thump somewhere but they ignored it.

"-clumsy and has a language problem but she worries about others than herself and is happy over the smallest things." Tsunami said kindly. "Yeah, we know she's a good kid and all but there's still some questions that we don't know. Where did she come from? Why is she here? Those are the kind of things I want to ask but..." Kakashi paused.

"She doesn't understand our language yet?" Sakura suggested.

"Right." The sensei nodded.

"Don't forget what we heard about from Zabuza. She was able to fend off Gato's men and here she is, still alive, despite being such a klutz." Sasuke reminded.

"Yes, that's right. How long ago did you say you found her?" Kakashi asked.

"About five days ago. Why?" Tazuna raised a brow.

"Hmm...it still doesn't explain anything about her. ...Anyway, we'll talk about that later. Right now, something's not right." Kakashi said.

As they talked about whether Zabuza was dead or not, which the debate ended with Zabuza alive, Ruka came in, holding a tray with cups of hot green tea. She walked around, handing a cup to Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke, Tazuna, and Tsunami but when she got to Kakashi, she held out a different beverage to him and started speaking up. "Drink. Herbal. Tea. Help. Strength." Ruka said, holding the cup out.

"What did she say just now?" Naruto asked.

"Do I have to translate everything Ruka says?" The Copy Ninja whined a little.

Sasuke scoffed. "Well, you're the only one that seems to know what she's saying so why don't you?"

"...Drink this herbal tea. It'll help you get your strength back." Kakashi translated.

"Here. **Drink.**" Ruka stated with a bit more force.

Well, no one had to translate that.

Kakashi blinked then took it carefully, nodding but didn't drink it. Ruka put the tray on the table she was studying on and crawled back to the head of the futon while staring at him intensely. The weak jounin couldn't help but edge a little away from the brunette's intense stare with a little blush, thanking the gods up there sitting on their asses that he still had his mask on. "Uh...why is she staring at me like that?" Kakashi asked, hiding his nervousness quite well.

Tsunami giggled and Tazuna laughed heartily. "Hahahahah! She wants you to drink it so she wants to make sure you do!" Tazuna laughed.

_'Why do I always solve one problem then find another has risen? This just isn't my day.'_ He mentally sighed.

"Maybe later. I still need to talk about their special training before I take it. Is that okay with you?" He tried to take her mind off the idea of taking off his mask to drink it. Ruka looked skeptical at the proposal then slowly nodded as if she doubted herself and Kakashi eye smiled. "Thanks. Anyway, back to business."

_(NEXT SCENE)_

_"Oooh baby, do you know what that's worth? Oooh, heaven is a place on earth."_

_"They say in heaven, love comes first. We'll make heaven a place on earth. Oooh, heaven is a place on earth!"_

_"When the night falls down, I wait for you and you come around."_

_"And the world's alive, with the sound of kids on the street outside."_

_"When you walk into the groove, you pull me close and we start to move."_

_"And we're spinning with the stars above, and you lift me up in a wave of love."_

Ruka continued to sing the lyrics as she kicked at the water at her feet, sandals in her hands and laughed lightly. She ran around the shore a bit then stopped when she saw a crab in the water. She bent down and plucked it from the water, holding it by the main body while humming happily as it tried to pinch her with its claws. Ruka grinned and chirped, "CRAB!" excitedly before running to the wooden box on shore, a little soaked by the waves coming in, and opened it. It had several other crabs in it, along with some oysters with some water inside to keep them wet before dumping the crab in and closed the box so it won't get out before running back out with the cold water reaching above her ankles.

"What are you doing?"

Ruka jumped and fell in the water, forcefully stopping her from singing before pulling her head up to see little Inari watching her with those lonely eyes. "Oh! Inari-san!" She squealed, running over immediately with her body completely soaked that her ponytail started to droop. She grinned but Inari only stared back.

"Hunting! Join?" She asked happily.

"No. And stop smiling." Inari grumbled.

The girl blinked, barely understanding what he said but got it nonetheless. "Why?" Ruka asked.

"'Cause only idiots smile when there's nothing to smile about." Inari snapped.

Ruka shook her head. "No. Th...There...is!" She spoke with difficulty. Inari blinked at her but said nothing, only stared. "Y-You just...got the god ti-ties!" Ruka spoke weirdly.

"You just got the god ties?" Inari repeated.

Ruka shook her head furiously. "No, no, no, no, no! You just...f-f-for...got the go-god ties!" She tried again.

"You just forgot the god ties?"

"No! You just for...go-got the god ti-ties!"

"You're repeating yourself."

"NO! You just...fo-forgot the g-good ti...ti...ti...times...!"

"You just forgot the good times? Is that it?"

Ruka nodded happily, going all teary-eyed. "No, they were just lies." Inari said. Ruka drooped her head with a big sigh as Inari walked off to the house. _'Guess he won't listen to what I say. But it's a little true, he forgot about the good times and he only remembers that terrible day. Poor Inari.'_ She thought.

Then she looked down at herself.

_"Maybe I should take off my shirt unless I wanna get sick."_ She mumbled.

Just when she was pulling off her soaked shirt and net like shirt, Team seven and Kakashi were just coming back for the day when Sakura shrieked. "What's wrong, Sakura-chan?!" Naruto demanded, wondering what Sakura was looking at.

"Ruka! Don't Take Off Your Clothes! Put Them Back ON!"

Kakashi glanced in the direction his female student was looking at then gapped, turning red in the face. "Na-Naruto, Sasuke, don't-"

Too late.

Sasuke and Naruto already looked.

"WHA THE HELL IS SHE DOING?!" Naruto screamed, face blood red.

"I'm Going To Kill You Unless You Put Your Clothes Back On Right Now!" Sasuke threatened loudly, quickly looking away.

Ruka blinked and turned her head to look over her shoulder to see Sakura running over with a desperate look on her face. "Eh?" She squeaked then squeaked even louder when Sakura got a hold of her. "What were you thinking?! Someone could've been watching and you would've been helpless if they tried anything to you and you'll get hur...huh?" Sakura blinked. She looked down to see Ruka's shirt was barely hanging off her arms and took notice of the bare chest but there was a problem.

"AIIIIEEEE!!"

"What's wrong?" Kakashi yelled over, back still turned to them.

"Uh...uh...uh...uuuuuh!" Was their response.

The silver-haired jounin cursed himself for being a teacher as he walked over to them, head up so they wouldn't think he's embarrassed. "What's wrong? Is Ruka hurt or something?" He asked, eye not looking.

"...Sh...She...I mean...uuh...sh-shirt...she...um...uh...f-flat...she-"

"Okay, Sakura, calm down. Now tell me what's wrong?" Kakashi asked again, getting worried now.

Whatever made his student so shaken up must have been really bad!

"Look at her!"

"What? But she's-"

"LOOK!" Sakura seethed, insanity in her eyes.

Kakashi, deciding that he didn't want to die yet, especially when he can barely defend himself, slowly turned his eye then gawked at Ruka's chest.

...There were no breasts.

"WHAT?! SHE'S A BOY??"

"_**WHAT?!**_" That was Sasuke and Naruto in the background.

Soon, all four were surrounding the utterly confused Ruka, who leaned back when they got suddenly too close for his liking. But judging how Sakura reacted and where they looked, Ruka concluded that they thought he was a girl.

...

...

...Wait a minute.

Ruka glared at them but they were too shocked and bewildered to see it so he put his hands on his hips and taped his foot, making a little small splashes since he was still ankle-deep in water. Then he took a deep breath and when they didn't stop them, his brow twitched as he shouted, "STOP!!"

Everyone, even Naruto, quieted almost instantly and practically at the same time, which made it a little creepy but Ruka ignored it. He turned his pearly black eyes on Naruto, who blinked every few seconds, still stunned. "What. Going. On?" Ruka demanded, knowing everyone understand that one. Naruto chuckled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. "Well, um, you see, all this time, we thought you were a girl and we didn't think you would...be...a boy so we...um..." Naruto shut his mouth.

"Hn. We thought you were a girl because you act like a girl and you can pass like one." Sasuke explained bluntly.

Ruka blinked, not fully understanding what he just said but decided it was something a little insulting so he let it slide. He grumbled as he patted his chest with one hand with a glared focused on them. "Not! Girl! Eyes! Messed up!" Ruka pointed accusingly at them. "I'm not a girl! Your eyes are messed up!" Kakashi translated again.

"Heh, sorry. You just looked like one so we figure...um, that's not helping, is it?" Naruto mumbled meekly when Ruka's glare was turned on him.

"No, it isn't." His team replied in union. Naruto decided to wisely shut up.

Then Naruto sputtered and smacked his hands together as if trying to wipe something disgusting off.

"What is it now, Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"Sh-I mean, HE kissed me, remember! Ew, that's disgusting! Yuck!" Naruto spat in disgust.

Ruka's eyes widen at the word "disgust" and backed away a little before spinning around on his heels and ran along the shore, abandoning his sandals in front of them. "Stupid Naruto! Look what you did! She-I mean, he ran away because you hurt he-his feelings! Stupid!" Sakura began to beat the crap out of the blonde as he tried to save himself by running. Kakashi lifted a hand over his face and dragged it down, sighing before turning to the Uchiha.

"Sasuke, stop Sakura from hurting him too much. I'll bring Ruka back before he gets lost or something." Kakashi replied boredly.

Sasuke just hmphed but nodded as Kakashi just used a jutsu to teleport after the newly discovered brown-haired boy.

_(NEXT SCENE)_

Ruka kept running, trying to hold in the tears by lifting an arm over his eyes so no one can see but also, he couldn't see where he was going either but he didn't care. He knew he should've expected Naruto to act like that but it still hurt him all the same. _'Why...? Why does everyone hate me because of how I am? I'm not scared to show my feelings or anything but...it hurts when they say that. Just because I'm a boy doesn't mean I don't got feelings, too, you know! Stupid Naruto! Stupid...'_ Ruka mentally wailed.

Unfortunately, the boy didn't see a large piece of driftwood in his path so he tripped.

"AH!" Ruka winced when he met the ground.

"Ou...Ouchie!" He muttered, forcing himself up but couldn't when pain shot up his already injured ankle.

_"Dammit! My foot hurts! I should have brought my sandals at least.'_ He whined in his head. _'Maybe I should...no. I can't. Not yet. Just not yet. I don't wanna see those disgusted looks on their faces just yet!'_ He let his body fall back down, sniffling and shaking with tears.

"What are doing on the ground, Ruka?"

Ruka gasped and snapped his head up to see Kakashi standing there with his stilts, staring at him with his half-lidded eye. He sniffled and looked back down as he pushed himself up, rubbing his face with his arm to get rid of the tear tracks before looking back up with watery eyes. "What. Wrong. Not. Disgusting." Ruka sniffled softly, a couple tears escaping his eyes. Kakashi closed his eye with a sigh, rubbing his head a bit before opening his eye then placed a hand on the distressed boy's head.

"You did nothing wrong. Naruto...whenever he thinks of something, he has to say it. Don't let it get to you." Kakashi reassured, petting his head like one of his dogs.

"You. Disgusted?"

"No, I'm not disgusted with you. I'm not sure about everyone else but I don't mind. You're just more open with your feelings." He eye smiled.

The brown-haired boy, barely deciphering his words, understood it and nodded with a teary smile. _"Arigatou gozaimasu, Kakashi-sensei!"_ The child grinned embarrassingly, scratching the bandage on his nose a little while tapping the sand with the tip of his foot. Kakashi couldn't help but smile. _'Cute. It's no surprise we've mistaken him as a girl. He'd be pretty cute if he was.'_ Kakashi blinked, confused. _'Did I just think that? Oh well, no arguing against it. I'm pretty sure anyone, including the boys, will fall in love with someone like him.'_ He concluded in his head.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"Hm? Yeah, what-!?"

Kakashi's eye almost popped out of his eye socket when Ruka stood on his tiptoes and put a light peck on his lips. His mind went blank as soon as those lips were on his then left as quickly as it happened. He was very sure the saying, "You take my breath away," is true because Ruka did just that. Besides, no one has ever kissed him so openly before, not that anyone has ever tried before or anything but because no one had the courage to.

Sure, the mask was there but still, he got his first kiss, dammit!

And from a little boy at that!

_"Kakashi-sensei, daijobu ka?"_ Ruka asked, snapping the stunned man out of his thoughts.

"Huh? What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine." He replied a little too quickly for Ruka's liking but he dismissed it. "Anyway, we should be getting back to Tazuna's place. You might learn some new kanji and just maybe, you might complete your language skills by the end of the week. You're pretty smart, I'm sure you can do it." Kakashi smiled down at the boy, who gasped then grinned widely.

"Yeah, yeah! Kanji! Japanese!" He exclaimed a bit too loudly for the jounin.

"Ow. Um, Ruka, try and keep your voice down, please?"

"...Oh! Sorry!"

Despite the ringing in his ears, Kakashi smiled and moved forward with his stilts helping him and the mysterious boy following after him like a loyal puppy dog to pick up Ruka's wooden box filled with little sea critters and continue on until they reached Tazuna's home. Of course, Naruto apologized for his behavior and everyone else also apologized for mistaken him as a girl, which Ruka didn't mind at all.

After all, he didn't even know they were calling him a girl all this time!

_(NEXT SCENE)_

"All right, I'll start with something simple for you. Now, repeat after me. May I please be excused?"

"..."

"I don't think he gets it."

"Don't worry, he's smart. He'll figure it out."

"...Let's just get Sakura-"

"Ah! May I please be excused!"

"...He did it?"

"Of course he did. Now, Sasuke, give him something to say."

"Hn. Fine. ...Everyone here is a drag."

"...Everyone here is a-?! HEY!"

"Sasuke, that wasn't nice."

"Whatever."

"ANYWAY, how about you, Kakashi-sensei? You give it a try."

"Hmm? Sure. Do that song you were singing when we arrived here."

"Eh? Song? The nursery rhyme?"

"That's what it was? Well, yeah, sure, do it."

"Okay. Um...do laugh."

"You mean, don't laugh."

"Yeah, that. Um, hold on, let me think."

"Don't take too-"

"Mr. Raccoon, Mr. Raccoon, can you play with me somehow? No, I can't. I am eating dinner now. What's for dinner? I want some! I am eating pickled plums. Can I have a little crumb? Don't be such a greedy bum! Get your own!"

Ruka blushed hotly, forgetting to do the Japanese battle cry at the end, looking down when they stared at him with impressed/weird looks. It was finally the day where Kakashi was almost in top health but was well enough to protect the bridge builder now. Right now, they were waiting for Sakura to hurry up while testing Ruka's language skills so far. Sure, Ruka could speak some sentences but he still needed to learn more in order to speak it fluently. Anyway, Sakura was finally ready and they left, leaving a sleeping Naruto behind to rest.

The brown-haired boy sighed once they were out of sight and turned back inside, blinking when he saw Inari behind him, staring at the path that Team seven and Tazuna took before smiling. "Inari-san."

The said boy looked up at him with empty eyes but he just smiled.

"We live. We protect. We love. And we die. But hat doesn't mean everything a lie. To be a hero, we protect those we love, even if it cost our lives, you understand?" Ruka smiled, despite the errors in his sentences. Inari blinked then looked thoughtful as he stared a bit longer then walked back inside the house with Ruka following behind.

It was peaceful for a while, even when Naruto woke up and rushed out to catch up with his friends. It seemed like nothing could destroy the peace.

But, as always, not everything lasts forever.

The brown-haired boy grinned when he finished helping Tsunami make lunch, beaming with joy as Tsunami giggled at him. "Very good, Ruka-chan! You're good at cooking, aren't you? Now, can you call Inari here so he can help set up the table?" She asked gently.

"Yes, Tsunami-san!" He chirped, skipping off to find the younger boy. "Inari, help with table!" Ruka shouted across the hall. "Coming!" Within a few seconds, Inari came out of his room and walked over to the kitchen. Together, Inari and Ruka set up the table then little Inari went to wash up for lunch when two samurais burst through the door.

Well, there WAS a door but it was smashed to bits.

Inari's mother screamed in fear as Ruka twitched in excitement but pushed it down as he glared up at the men, ready to fight them but Tsunami quickly pushed him behind her while backing up to the counter. "What are you doing here? What do you want?" Tsunami demanded, sweat forming on her face and fear evident in her eyes. Ruka growled then blinked when he felt something, glancing behind to see the two knives Tsunami was using to cut up the vegetables earlier.

Slowly and quietly as possible, he grabbed the handle of one large knife and hid it behind his back then grabbed a smaller one before pocketing it in his left net like sleeve, ignoring the pain it brought when it dug in his skin. Once the deed was done, he went back to paying attention to the dangerous men before them.

"We were ordered to bring a hostage with us and you'll do just fine." The pale man smirked.

The second guy with a bare-chest complained about wanting to cut something then blink when he noticed the boy behind the woman.

"Hey. Isn't that the brat who...?" The second man paused.

The pale guy blinked then smirked. "Yeah, you're right. It's the same kid who kept messing with Gato's men. She should know better than to mess with us."

"Move it, girl. Give us the brat." The tanned man demanded, reaching for him.

"You keep your hands off Ruka-chan!"

"Mom?"

Tsunami's eyes widen and turned to see Inari peeking around the corner, looking shocked and scared. Unfortunately, the men saw him, too. "Inari, get out of here! Go!" She yelled but Inari stayed, too scared to move. "Hey, can I cut him, too?" The second asked, ready to pull out his sword. "Sure, go ahead." The first snickered. They started to approach the frighten boy but Tsunami stopped them with a yell. "No! Don't you dare touch him! If you lay one hand on my boy, I'll bite off my tongue and bleed to death. You need the hostage alive, right?" Tsunami threatened.

"...Fine, let's just leave him here." The pale man sighed then turned to the younger child.

"You should be thanking your mom for saving your life, kid. She really came through for you." The first said to Inari, who only fell on his knees against the wall, tears streaming down his face.

"Aww, but I really wanted to cut something!"

"Stop complaining. You already cut up a lot of things on our way here."

Ruka grunted before pushing Inari's mother aside and quickly got in front of her, knife out in front of him in both hands. "Don't touch! Tsunami-san! Inari-san!" He yelled, trying to be threatening. "Aww, look. The little brat's trying to be a big hero!" The second laughed.

"Heh, I like a girl with spunk. Maybe we should play with her a bit before we kill her off."

"Not a bad idea."

Ruka's eyes widen when they approached him but remained firm, glaring as hard as he could. _'I won't back down! Not until Naruto gets here! Please, Naruto, come quickly!'_

The boy charged forward, knife out but they moved out of the way and the purple-clad man stuck his foot out, tripping him as Ruka fell, dropping the knife from his hands. "Ouchie!" Ruka winced, pushing himself up but felt someone kick him in the stomach to roll him onto his back, gasping in pain as the taller man grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him up.

"Heh, not so tough now, are you, brat?" He sneered.

Ruka grasped the man's fist on his shirt then smirked. "Hey, what's so-AHH!"

The brown-haired boy landed in a kneeling position from the man, who held the long and somewhat deep cut on his upper right arm when he whipped out the hidden knife in his sleeve, smirking while oblivious to the trickle of blood dripping down from the sleeve he hid the knife in. The second growled in anger as Ruka stood up, the knife still in his hand.

"Why you...! I'll kill you!" He shouted.

"Tsunami-san, Inari-san! Run! Now!" Ruka yelled.

He quickly ran, taking both the child and the mother along the way, and ran outside with two angry men following close behind. But, unfortunately, they were too fast as the purple-clad man grabbed Ruka's wrist, yanking him back, which the boy yelped in pain as he accidentally let go of Inari and Tsunami, who rolled ahead a little. "You take the woman! I'll take care of this one!" The first hissed.

"Grr, fine! But save something for me to cut up!" The second growled, marching over and grabbed Tsunami's arm.

"Tsunami-san! Inar-AH!" Ruka gasped when his captor threw him on the ground, hard, leaving him almost breathless.

"This is it! Time for you to die!" He yelled, raising his sword to finish him off.

Ruka closed his eyes and covered his head with his hands, waiting for the strike that will end his life. "Stop it! Let them go!" Inari yelled, getting up and running at the men. "No, Inari! Stay back!" Tsunami cried desperately but the bare-chest man knocked her out by hitting the pressure point in her neck. Ruka tried to stop the men from attacking but the first guy kicked him in the stomach again, leaving him to watch, as they were so close to killing Inari.

If there was a time that Ruka wanted to yell, it would be now as Naruto FINALLY showed up and rescued them before the samurai could kill Inari. "Good job, guys! You did great! Guess I was wrong about you two!" Naruto grinned as he gently put Inari's mother on the ground as carefully as possible while Ruka got off his back himself. The brown-haired child quickly embraced Inari tightly, shaking with relief before releasing the boy after a few long moments and turned to smile at the grinning blonde.

"Thank you, Naruto-san!"

"Heheh, no problem! I'll take care of them!" Naruto smirked.

Suddenly, his clones jumped out from hiding in the water and attacked the two unsuspecting men and all Ruka could do was smile when it was over. Ruka watched Naruto praise Inari, who cried with happiness before Naruto panicked then quickly left, leaving them to take care of Tsunami. Ruka sighed with a smile and put his hands on his hips before smiling down at Inari, who smiled back.

"Well...wake up. Tsunami-san. Kick butt?" Ruka suggested.

"I have no idea what you just said but YEAH!" Inari cheered as they carried the unconscious mother back inside the somewhat damaged home.

_(NEXT SCENE)_

_Two Weeks After Defeating Gato And Zabuza And Haku's Death..._

"Well, we better head back to Konoha." Kakashi said as his team stood on the now finished bridge. Tazuna nodded and smiled at them as well as his family and his friends. "Yes, too bad you couldn't stay a bit longer. Inari is quite attached to your loudmouth student." Tazuna joked. Naruto let it slid with a laugh before looking around. "Hey. Where's Ruka? Isn't he coming?" He asked out loud.

The genins looked around but didn't see Ruka anywhere. "Well, maybe he doesn't want to come, Naruto. You should respect that."

"Aww! But I wanted to introduce him to Iruka-sensei!" Naruto whined.

"Shut up, dope. We already have our hands full with you around."

"STOP CALLING ME A DOPE!!"

"Guys, break it up!"

Ruka sighed when he finished dressing up in the same white clothes before grabbed his moving bags with few difficulties and walked out of the house, only to hear loud shouts somewhere near the finished bridge, which he figured was Sasuke and Naruto arguing about something again. An idea popped in his head and a wide grin spread across his face. As he approached the unsuspecting groups, Ruka started to sing merrily.

"Mr. Raccoon, Mr. Raccoon, can't you sing with me somehow?" Ruka started.

"No, we can't. We are fighting now." Sakura finished almost instinctively.

Then Sakura blinked and laughed when she saw Ruka running over while the boys watched them. "Heheh, I can't get enough of this song!" Sakura giggled. "Yeah! Great? We. Drive. Mad. Sing it. Long!" Ruka bubbled excitedly. "Isn't it great? We can drive people mad if we sing it long enough!" Kakashi corrected. Ruka blinked and both Sakura and Ruka giggling.

"Hey, Ruka. Why do you have five bags? You don't live here." Naruto asked, scratching his head in confusion.

Ruka blinked again then chuckled sheepishly, scratching the bandage on his nose with a small blush.

"Heheh, dunno. Came round. Stuff. Already. Here. Don't ask why. They. Here! Think. Lucky. Lost. In the water." He answered.

"Again, you got it wrong. You mean you don't know but, when you came around, your stuff was with you. Don't ask why, they were just there! You think you were lucky they didn't get lost or something in the water." Kakashi sighed.

"Yeah. Can't he even speak normally yet? I'm getting tired of these stupid guessing games. If you can't talk yet, just shut your trap until you do." Sasuke grumbled.

Ruka blinked, not fully understanding what he just said.

"Well, how about you let us help you carry them? They're probably too heavy for you." Kakashi commented, swiping a pack and tossed it on his shoulder.

"HEY! Ask first!" Ruka scowled but smiled.

Kakashi just waved him off, sneaking glances at the boy as Sakura and Naruto each took a bag as well except Sasuke, leaving Ruka to carry only two of his smallest bags. When they started walking across the bridge, Ruka couldn't help but notice that the silver-haired jounin was watching him a bit oddly. Kakashi glanced over again and caught him staring as Ruka blushed and looked away with a slightly nervous expression that went unnoticed but the team.

_'Why does he keep staring at me? He's been doing that ever since Zabuza and Haku died and it's starting to freak me out. ...I hope I can figure it out when we get to Konoha.'_

--(END SCENE)--

Futon (Japanese bedding)

Arigatou gozaimasu (thank you very much)

Daijobu ka (are you okay; are you all right)

Nursery Song from Pom Poko

Heaven is a place on earth by Groove Coverage


	3. Questions

REAL SUMMARY: Okay, here's a bit of info for you reviewers out there. "This is about a boy named Ruka, who can't speak much Japanese, mysteriously enters the Naruto world in the Wave Country but...he doesn't know how he got there! He is rescued by Tazuna's family then later, leaves with Team 7 to Konoha. All the while, he meets another person who's in the similar situation as him but is Japanese. Apparently, someone is after Ruka but who? And what's this? The newcomers are WHAT?! But they better hurry or Ruka will loose everything, even his name!" Now, if you don't like a bit of OC yaoi, then...WHY THE HELL ARE YOU READING THIS? That includes you, PhantomFaustfan and anyone who dislikes reading or watching any yaoi! All right, thank you! Now, enjoy the story!

_'Japanese or English thoughts.'_

"Japanese." - _"English."_

_"English to _Japanese words._"_

--(START SCENE)--

Mission 3 - "Questions."

"So you found this girl at the Wave Country, am I right, Kakashi?" The Third asked skeptically, observing Ruka, who stood in the middle of the mission room.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. Apparently, Ruka couldn't remember how he arrived there but he says that he's not from here." Kakashi said.

Ruka didn't bother paying attention to the conversation when he noticed he caught the attention of a certain chuunin, who looked very pale to see him. The brown-haired boy sweatdropped as Iruka watched him intensely as he lifted a hand and put it behind his head. _'Oh boy. I wonder what he's thinking. He probably sees me as a hallucination. Not my fault I'm wearing the costume I wore when I went to an anime convention! Besides, I like it. He's practically my idol!'_ Ruka dipped his head slightly, scratching his chin a little while his pearly black eyes watched the academy teacher.

Ruka yelped when Kakashi's hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled the blushing brunette in front of him, both gloved hands on his shoulders. "Yes, he said that he wanted to train as a ninja so I was wondering if you could possibly help him." He said.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Ruka whined softly, his face turning even redder as he struggled to get away.

"Hmm, I can see what I can do about that in a moment. But this story sounds strangely identical to another arrival here." The Third said, blowing smoke from the pipe in his mouth.

Ruka blinked then jumped excitedly, pointing accusingly at the Third in that silly gorilla/sumo wrestler like stance. "Bad! Bad! No smoking! BAAAD!!" He exclaimed.

Everyone, who was in the mission room at the time, were shocked to actually hear a little girl order the Third so boldly without even hesitating in the slightest. They figured that this pretty girl was either brave or completely stupid.

...Nah, when you have a good thing, there's always one downside about you.

Ruka blinked when he noticed some of the people here were staring at him oddly similar to Kakashi's stare and quickly hid behind the silver-haired jounin, peeking around his arm and blinked those adorably big, black eyes of his. Kakashi rubbed the back of his head as he tried to pull his arm from his grip but Ruka wouldn't release his hold on his sleeve. But then he noticed why Ruka was acting a bit oddly than usual and blankly stared at the ones, who stared at Ruka.

_'Heh, not here even twenty minutes and already, he's got admirers. I won't even be surprised if he became more popular than Sasuke.'_ He thought with a sigh.

"Uh, well, to make everything perfectly clear here so everyone doesn't get this mixed up, Ruka's a boy." Kakashi stated quite bluntly.

...Stunned silence.

"WHAT?!"

"...Well, guess you guys weren't paying attention when I was saying "he" several times already. Besides his name being a girl's name, he IS a boy." He grumbled. Then he shook his head and turned back to the Third, who was practically the only one who caught on, watching him with a serious expression.

"Anyway, as you were saying...?"

"Ah, yes, the arrival here also had some similarities to this boy's story. We found him outside the village a few weeks ago while your team was still on a mission. The young man was asleep in the forest, unharmed, and a carrying bag was also found, which belonged to him. Unfortunately, he wouldn't tell us where he was from, saying he doesn't belong here but we managed to find someone, who could watch over him for the time being." The Hokage explained.

Ruka blinked upon hearing about another person before slowly and carefully walking out from behind the jounin.

"Who came?" He asked curiously.

Sarutobi sighed and turned to Kotetsu, who was filing some paperwork with Iruka.

"Kotetsu? The guardian of the young man is your friend, Izumo, correct?" The old man turned to the spiky-haired chuunin.

Kotetsu blinked upon being called. "Y-Yes."

"Did he say anything about a name?"

Kotetsu sniffed a little but shook his head sadly. The Third sighed and pulled his hat down a little over his face.

"Unfortunately, we're going to have to continue about that matter later." He mumbled. "Maybe he doesn't know how to speak Japanese like Ruka here. He can say some things now but he still practicing." Kakashi suggested but Sarutobi waved it off. "No, the man already knows how to speak and write in Japanese so it's out of the question. I think he may not trust us because of the new life he was forced to live in. Give him time and he will eventually tell us." He leaned over on the table, hands folded under his chin.

"But now, we have to find a solution for...Ruka, was it? Well, we don't have to search very hard for a guardian." Sarutobi smiled.

"Hm?" Kakashi looked up from his book that he took out during the conversation.

He had a bad feeling in his gut that he already knew what he was going to say.

"Well, since you found Ruka and had spent a few weeks with the child, it would be best to stay with someone you know than someone who doesn't. Also, he seems attached to you so you're the best candidate." He smiled.

While they talked about living problems and such, Ruka decided his feet hurt from their walk from one country to another and walked around until he was behind the mission table, between Iruka and Kotetsu. He crouched down low so you can't see him and stared at Iruka, who blinked when he noticed the boy was suddenly next to him. The dolphin stared back at the small child, who blinked at him a few times before a grin slowly spread across his face.

What was he grinning about?

Unfortunately, they couldn't ask because Ruka, for some strange reason, squealed so loudly, everyone in the room had to cover their poor ears and he glomped the very startled chuunin, hugging him like no tomorrow.

"KYAAAA!! IRUKA-SENSEI!!" He squealed excitedly.

"Gaah! What are you doing? AH!" Iruka yelped when the boy let go, making him fall off his chair.

Ruka panicked and quickly helped the poor man up back onto his seat before bowing repeatedly in apologies and quickly ran back to Kakashi to hide again.

Kakashi, the Third, and some others stared at the boy in amusement or surprise at the whole ordeal, making Ruka feel very uncomfortable.

"...Anyway, now that we've settled things, I hope you will enjoy your stay with Hatake Kakashi. You will be living with him for quite some time so please, feel free to come to me or anyone else here for help." Sarutobi smiled at the little boy. Ruka blinked then grinned widely, curling all but the index and middle finger and put them together in a American way of saluting before laughing a little then bowed deeply.

"Thank you very much, Hokage-sama." He whispered before following after his new guardian out of the Hokage Tower.

The Hokage smiled at the direction the duo went through and continued doing his work. _'I hope we'll find out the reason behind these unexpected appearances soon. I just hope it won't turn out dangerous for these boys.'_ Sarutobi thought.

Genma, who was giving Kotetsu his latest report, finally spoke up.

"Hey, that kid may be a boy but you gotta admit, he's pretty cute." Genma joked.

Everyone groaned at his stupid comment, some thinking he was serious so they scowled him and the others just went back to work.

_(NEXT SCENE)_

Ruka grew nervous as he looked around to see many boys and girls, even older people, were staring at him and clutched onto Kakashi's sleeve a bit tighter, trying to hide but couldn't. "Kakashi-sensei! Why stare?" Ruka whined quietly, eyeing the people around them. Kakashi glanced around to see all the love-struck morons staring at the smaller of the two before looking straight ahead of the street.

"Because they like you." He stated simply.

"Why?"

Kakashi stopped and looked over his shoulder to stare into those big, doe-like eyes then froze. "Well, you look cute because of your actions and your figure. If you look at yourself, you have to admit, you look very cute." Kakashi suggested. Ruka's face went completely red and didn't realize his hand loosen, allowing Kakashi to have his arm back while he kept walking, leaving Ruka standing there with a shocked expression on his cute little face.

Ruka couldn't believe it. Someone had actually called him cute besides his mother. Usually, when other males realize he's a boy, they would be making faces and regretting they ever called him sexy or whatever crazy words they thought of back home or just plain out using it to tease. Even though it was a misunderstanding, they never once called him pretty, adorable, cute, or beautiful, just sexy. Even the girls. Sure, they say things like handsome or whatever but again, never cute.

So why was this man, which he adored along with Iruka in the anime, saying this to him?

Ruka's face grew even more red as he thought deeper into it. _'No one's ever called me cute before. Why did he? Is there something he's trying to say? Could it be that...that...'_

"...You're gay?"

Ruka winced when Kakashi's right foot twisted the same way his own foot did when they first met and fall on a pyramid of wooden crates, which in turn, fell on him. He covered his eyes with his hands when he heard a crash then slowly opened them to see a panting jounin kneeling a bit in front of him, looking a little paler than usual before he got his breath back. Apparently, he barely managed to get out of there before he got seriously hurt.

Kakashi snapped his head up and suddenly got in his face, which Ruka made a small, "EEP!" sound then chuckled nervously with a nervous half-grin.

"Eheheh...sorry?" Ruka squeaked meekly.

Ignoring the people around asking if he was all right, Kakashi snatched the boy's wrist and dragged him off as Ruka squeaked while trying to keep up with the older man.

_(NEXT SCENE)_

"Hm?"

A young boy looked over when a couple of village girls giggled and pointed at him, whispering to each other with stupid grins of their faces. He sighed and ran his hand through his black hair as he looked up at the sky.

"...This is stupid. That stupid Izumo, telling me what to do. I'm seventeen, dammit! Not seven, there's a one in front of it, you stupid people!" He grumbled to himself.

He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and stuck one between his lips then pulled out a lighter, lit it, then pocketed back in his pocket as he took a deep breath of it before blowing a puff of smoke out.

The seventeen-year-old man wore his own clothes instead of the clothing in this world since he got finally managed to get them clean a couple days ago. His eyes were narrowed sea green and his black hair was short and messy but the two bangs on each side of his head reached just below his ears (think of it like Sasuke's bangs). He wore a plain white muscle shirt under his dark blue vest, which remained open and loose, black pants were almost shining in the sunlight as if showing how silky they were, and black boots, not too gangster nor too business men type of boots, just between, and around his wrists were navy blue bands.

He was about nearly six feet, his body wasn't too well built, a bit on the skinny side, and he had this dark, mysterious aura about him that perks everyone's interest. He also wore black-rimmed reading glasses, which was rare to see around these parts.

But he is handsome and that's all that mattered.

_'Che, stupid people. Is there ANYONE around here that is normal?! Ninja, ninja, ninja, that's all I hear from them! Hello, people! The shinobis died out a long time ago! Sheesh!'_ He thought irritably.

"There you are! Geez, took me forever to find you!"

The black-haired man glanced to see Izumo running over and when he got to him, he bent down with his hands on his knees, panting for breath with sweat dripping down his brow. But the young man just snorted and stuck his nose in the air, grabbing the cigarette between his fingers as he blew more smoke.

"Hn. You're fault for not watching me, not mine." He sighed.

"HEY! I told you quite clearly to stay inside until I got back! And didn't I tell you no smoking?"

"Whatever. I'm hungry. Let's go."

"You're Not Even Listening To Me, Are You?!"

"Nope."

"..."

_"Ma-Matte! Chotto matte!"_

The seventeen-year-old's eyes widen slightly and almost stumbled back when a silver-haired jounin stomped by, dragging a little girl with him with his hand on her wrist. He gasped quietly when the girl looked back at him, giving him a silent apology to him with her sparkling black eyes.

The man blinked at this, studying the small girl for a second, not even hearing Izumo talking to him. _'Who is that cute girl? She doesn't look like she's from around here and her accent is a bit off. Maybe she's not from around here. She could be from another country but...from what I heard, they need permission to enter or they're on a mission of some sort. ...Hn, not exactly my type of girl but she sure is cuter than the village girls here. Maybe I might get a chance to 'talk' to her when I get a chance.'_

"What are you staring at?"

The young man continued to stare long after the little girl was out of his sight but blinked when Izumo's hand clapped his shoulder firmly. "Hey. I asked what you were staring at." Izumo repeated.

"Hm? Oh. Nothing. Let's go. Our stomachs aren't going to fill themselves up now, will they?" He smirked slightly then walked off.

"The brat has some attitude." The chuunin mumbled darkly.

Izumo snorted then followed the young man, quietly agreeing with his strange guest. Their stomachs were empty but then again, Izumo was searching all over the town to find the man so he couldn't get anything to eat.

Wonder who's fault that was?

_(NEXT SCENE)_

"Kakashi-sensei!"

"..."

"Kakashi-sensei!"

"..."

"Kakashi-sensei...! Stop! Let go!"

They made it to the apartment after Kakashi dragged him up a few staircases. Then Kakashi quickly unlocked his door and opened it, roughly pushing Ruka in first before closing the door behind them.

"Uh...Kakashi-sensei? Didn't. Offend-"

"No, it's not that." He interrupted.

The brown-haired boy blinked, not sure if he understood but stayed silent, waiting for him to continue.

"I just...it's not something I like to talk OUT loud so...yeah. Anyway." Kakashi smacked his face with his hand and dragged it down a little, not caring if his headband fell around his neck but made sure to keep the Sharingan eye closed the entire time before moving away from the door and walked to the kitchen. Ruka remained in the small living room for a few minutes before quickly followed in to see Kakashi looking in the cupboards then pulling out a bag of rice and set them next to the vegetables on the table.

He blinked. _"Onigiri?"_

"Yup. Don't want to talk on an empty stomach now, don't you?" He grinned.

"Yeah but-!?"

Kakashi and Ruka blinked when they heard growling and looked down (in Kakashi's case, looked at Ruka) to see it was Ruka's stomach that was doing the growling. The little boy blushed furiously and wrapped his skinny arms around his middle as if trying to hide the fact that he IS hungry as Kakashi closed his eyes with a nervous chuckle.

"Well, looks like your _stomach_ agrees with me." He laughed half-heartedly.

Kakashi couldn't help but tease the small child. He just looks so cute with his face flushed in embarrassment, strands of hair drooping over those black doe like eyes, body so tiny yet-

He stopped himself, mentally slapping himself into next week for thinking that way about a kid barely even half his age. He snapped out of it when Ruka spoke up. "Um, how about do it?" He asked quietly. The silver-haired man nodded then couldn't help but smile. "Sure. And you forgot the _I_ between _about_ and _do._ Close but you still need practice." He corrected. Ruka nodded as he uncurled himself, face still slightly red and walked out of the kitchen to find something.

Kakashi blinked and waited for the boy to come back.

He immediately became alert when he heard music flow through and a giddy Ruka run back in. "Uh, Ruka what did-"

_"Crazy baby, the spirit of the motion."_

_"Don't let me feel devotion."_

_"And every day, I always loved you."_

_"Baby, so let me see the fire."_

_"Better step a little higher."_

_"And every day, I keep on moving."_

_"Baby, you always on my mind."_

_"So darling, I miss you every time."_

_"Hey, hey, baby, baby, I feel emotion."_

_"To hold me lady and I will always-"_

_"Miss you darling. I want your loving. You left me crying."_

_"Our secret love."_

Kakashi watched the boy sing something he couldn't understand in a soft yet fast somewhat between feminine and manly voice but to see him sway, spin, jump and whatnot while helping cook without hurting himself, he just couldn't help but be a little impressed. Apparently, judging by the weird music, Ruka was singing along with it as he watched him add some rice in the rice cooker before continuing warming up the vegetables on the frying pan.

It didn't take long for whatever the song was to end and change to a different one, which Ruka sang once more.

_'How can he do that? It like he's done it so many times that it became almost instinctive. His movements are fluent like water almost and not once has he hesitated.'_

Pause.

_'...Okay, I'm thinking too hard. I got to remember that each person is different on how they work on things. But if it was a mission, music would definitely reveal our positions yet, if loud enough, you won't be able to hear anything BUT the music. And dancing doesn't really get you far but if used just right, it could also be used as a defense and offense and catch the enemy off guard because they don't know what's going on. Ooh man, like to see the looks on their faces if that ever happens. ...But I REALLY can't imagine me or anyone else dancing in a middle of a war or something. I'm pretty sure Ruka would but the others? Not a chance in hell!'_

"Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi snapped his head up. "Yes, what is it?"

Ruka looked nervous, biting his bottom lip as his eyes kept shifting to the side and back at his own eyes, I mean, eye.

"Uh...your hand...stove..."

"...Oh...HOT! HOT! HOT! _**HOT!!**_"

After saving his now burnt hand by waving it around until Ruka had to grab him and stick it under the faucet and turned on the cold water, letting it cool down until it no longer burned nor emit hot steam. Then Ruka took it upon himself to tend to it. The brown-haired boy looked completely focused as he wrapped a long strip of bandage around Kakashi's scorched appendage while never noticing that the patient was watching him as they sat in the small living with Kakashi sitting on the couch and Ruka sitting on the small table with a tube of cream made for healing burns and bandages beside him that he took out of one of his bags.

"You should be careful. Stove. HOT." Ruka lectured, eyes not wavering.

"Yeah. I know. Just not every day it happens."

"Hm? Happens? Burnt hand?" Ruka perked.

"Well, that's one."

"Then what other one?"

"You forgot _is_ between _what_ and _other_ and _the_ after you add the _is._"

"Opps. Sorry."

"Don't be. Anyway, the other one is that I never let a kid tend to my injuries." He said.

Ruka didn't look surprised but, for some reason, a little sad, which Kakashi couldn't figure out why. He shouldn't look so sad. He's not going to cry, is he? ...Oh great, there's a little tear at the edge of his big eyes. He IS crying, well, not loudly and almost but hey, he's still going to cry!

But then again, didn't Tsunami say that he liked to help a lot some time ago?

_'Nice going, dumbass. You made Ruka cry. What next? Wanna ask him out? ...No, wait, back up.'_ Kakashi scowled himself.

"A-Anyway, uh...you asked me a question earlier, right?" The silver-haired man changed subject, successfully stopping the boy from going from teary-eyed to waterworks. "Um, yeah. I did. Never answered, though." Ruka sniffed lightly and released his hand when he was done.

The jounin sighed and leaned back on the couch, staring up at the ceiling for a few moments of silence.

"...Dunno. Never thought about it. But I'm not against it, though. Love is love, no matter if you're both boys or girls. As long as you love each other, that's fine." He replied.

"Hmm...hey." He called.

Kakashi glanced over. "What?"

Ruka looked nervous and opened his mouth to say something but, as if changing his mind, he closed it.

"...Never mind. Sorry about that." He shook his head and went back in the kitchen to turn off the stove before they burned the food.

After a few minutes or so, Ruka came back with several rice balls stacked neatly on a plate and put it on the table before taking two, handing one to Kakashi while holding the other. Kakashi smiled and took it, watching to see Ruka grin as he plopped down next to him and ate the rice ball slowly, small bite after small bite. He turned away from watching Ruka eat and pulled down his mask to eat.

It took only a few second for Ruka to realize that he could see Kakashi eating...without his mask?

Ruka stared with big eyes, not able to help himself as Kakashi continuing eating. Now he knew why he always wore that mask. If he didn't have it on, he was sure all the girls in the village would be after him a lot more than Sasuke.

Ruka shuddered.

Ugh, crazy fan girls.

They never leave you alone and always fighting over the same person without considering the other person's feelings. There were some girls he's okay with but he couldn't deal with most of them. Poor Kakashi. If he ever took it off for a whole day, he would be begging for death within the week of dealing with obsessive fans. Without his mask, he looked very cool but with it, he looked stunningly mysterious, no matter how you looked at him.

Sure, he knew he was handsome but that's not handsome.

He was beautiful!

His said subject of attention glanced over and caught him staring, making a little, "EEP!" sound and dropped his half-eaten riceball, face burning with heat. "Um, uh, so-sorry. Didn't. Mean. Stare." Ruka squeaked out nervously, sweating up a storm. When Kakashi didn't look away, Ruka blushed even more and sharply turned away, head down so his eyes were shadowed under his bangs.

There was an awkward silent, the silent was so loud that it hurt the boy's ears as he felt very uncomfortable, shifting his body a little every now and then.

"Hey. Are you gay?"

Ruka stiffened, left eye twitching but didn't answer, just forced himself to swipe another riceball and keep eating until his third riceball was gone with his head down while his body felt like it was in a microwave oven.

Kakashi became even more suspicious so he leaned a little more until his arm was on Ruka's left shoulder and his face was next to his head for effect, watching the boy become very tense the closer he got. _'So he is. But judging how he reacts, he's definitely not one to make a move on anyone. Poor kid. With his looks, I'm pretty sure he had some guys hit on him so many times that he became too shy.'_ The Copy Ninja thought.

"So you are."

"...Disgusted?" He asked much quietly than usual.

"No, I'm not. You're just going through a difficult stage, that's all. If you're gay, you're gay, that's just how you are. There's nothing in this world that can change my thoughts of you." He reassured, smiling a little to lighten up the boy's spirit. It worked like a charm when Ruka smiled back, not as big as usual but it was a genuine smile. "Thank you. Not. Judging." Ruka smiled, making Kakashi blush and turn away quickly.

"Yeah, yeah, just don't give me that look! For some reason, I can't help but give in to it!"

Ruka blinked, confused. "What look?"

"The one with those big eyes."

"...Puppy dog-eye look?"

"Yeah, that one. I swear, if you gave that look to interrogate an enemy, he'd be yelling 'You basterds! You call this an interrogation?! Stop torturing me and give me a real interrogation, god dammit!'" Kakashi joked.

Ruka chuckled a little with a hand over his mouth a little.

"Heh heh, really? Think so? Don't. Think. Puppy dog-eye look is _that_ good."

"No, I'm sure it would work. Then we'll have a complete success at getting information from the enemy about the enemy's plans."

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"Yeah?" Kakashi looked over.

His cheeks turned a faint shade of pink when Ruka reached up and gave him a peck on his cheek, which still didn't have his mask on, eyes widen with shock once again. He didn't move when Ruka stood up, a blush on his own cheeks with the trademark smile he always wore on his lips.

"Thanks. You know. Some. Reason. Talk. Really helps, Kakashi-sensei. Real friend." Ruka grinned and hummed a little, dancing slightly.

"Thanks. You know, for some reason, talking to you really helps, Kakashi-sensei. You're a real friend. Is that what you said?" The jounin guessed and he nodded.

"Sure. No problem. As Hokage-sama said, you can always turn to us for help. ...Just don't cry too much and we're even, okay?"

"Sure! I'll try!" Ruka said in a singsong voice.

The jounin lay back once more and observed the brown-haired boy in front of him, dancing around the table as he sunk into his thoughts.

_'I'm amazed. A boy who isn't afraid to admit the truth yet, is terrified of how everyone will take it. You don't find many boys like him around these days. Most boys would hide it and try not to show it. But he's not afraid to say it nor afraid to show his weakness, despite being hurt. Hmph, well, unlike them, I'll keep it a secret until Ruka is ready to tell them on his own. He may not see it but he's already strong, to keep moving on after all that's happened. Wonder if he'll continue to grow stronger with his trademark smile?'_ Kakashi thought.

He shook his head and grabbed another riceball, munching on it as Ruka laughed when another song came up and began to sing in a higher pitch and all Kakashi could do not to stare like a freaking idiot was smile and eat his food.

_"Ay yi yi, ay yi yi, ay yi yi, where's my samurai?"_

_"I've been searching for a man,"_

_"All across Japan,"_

_"Just to find, to find my samurai."_

_"Some one who is strong,"_

_"But still a little shy."_

_"Yes, I need, I need my samurai."_

_"Ay yi yi, I'm your little butterfly."_

_"Green, black, and blue make the colors in the sky."_

_"Ay yi yi, I'm your little butterfly."_

_"Green, black, and blue make the colors in the sky."_

_"I've been searching in the woods,"_

_"And high upon the hills,"_

_"Just to find, to find my samurai."_

_"Someone who won't regret,"_

_"To keep me in his net."_

_"Yes, I need, I need, my samurai."_

_"Ay yi yi, I'm your little butterfly."_

_"Green, black, and blue make the colors in the sky."_

_"Ay yi yi, I'm your little butterfly."_

_"Green, black, and blue make the colors in the sky."_

_"Ay yi yi, ay yi yi, ay yi yi, where's my samurai?"_

_"Ay yi yi, ay yi yi, ay yi yi, where's my samurai?"_

_"Ay yi yi, I'm your little butterfly."_

_"Green, black, and blue make the colors in the sky."_

_"Ay yi yi, I'm your little butterfly."_

_"Green, black, and blue make the colors in the sky."_

_"Ay yi yi, I'm your little butterfly."_

_"Green, black, and blue make the colors in the sky."_

_"Ay yi yi, I'm your little butterfly."_

_"Green, black, and blue make the colors in the sky."_

_"Ay yi yi, ay yi yi, ay yi yi, where's my samurai?"_

_"Ay yi yi, ay yi yi, ay yi yi, where's my samurai?"_

_"Ay yi yi, ay yi yi, ay yi yi, where's my samurai?"_

_"Ay yi yi, I'm your little butterfly."_

_"Green, black, and blue make the colors in the sky."_

Once the song was over, Ruka smiled proudly as Kakashi clapped a little to humor him before continuing to eat another riceball. Then Ruka grinned a little TOO brightly that made Kakashi stare back with the riceball sticking out of his mouth. "Hey, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Hm?"

"Want to dance?"

Choke, choke, sputter, cough, gasp, cough!

"WHAT?!"

--(END SCENE)--

Onigiri (rice balls made of cooked rice and usually wrapped with a nori seaweed. They are slightly salted and often contain some additional food in the center, for example an umeboshi (pickled Japanese apricot), katsuobushi (dried bonito shavings), tuna, or salmon.)

Matte (wait)

Chotto matte (wait a second)

Che (general sound of annoyance)

Crazy Baby by Groovage Coverage

Butterfly by SMiLE.dk


	4. Love Problems

REAL SUMMARY: Okay, here's a bit of info for you reviewers out there. "This is about a boy named Ruka, who can't speak much Japanese, mysteriously enters the Naruto world in the Wave Country but...he doesn't know how he got there! He is rescued by Tazuna's family then later, leaves with Team 7 to Konoha. All the while, he meets another person who's in the similar situation as him but is Japanese. Apparently, someone is after Ruka but who? And what's this? The newcomers are WHAT?! But they better hurry or Ruka will loose everything, even his name!" Now, if you don't like a bit of OC yaoi, then...WHY THE HELL ARE YOU READING THIS? That includes you, PhantomFaustfan and anyone who dislikes reading or watching any yaoi! All right, thank you! Now, enjoy the story!

_'Japanese or English thoughts.'_

"Japanese." - _"English."_

_"English to _Japanese words._"_

--(START SCENE)--

Mission 4 - "Love problems."

"Dammit, Kakashi-sensei! Can't you at least once not be late?!" Iruka growled to himself, thoroughly annoyed.

He scoffed quietly as he scanned through another document.

"Couldn't hurt to drop in and give me the damn thing. But he just likes to see me get all riled up but no, not this time! I'm not going to act stupid like the last few times he turned in a late report. This time, maybe I might be lucky to beat it in his head and-"

"IRUKA-SENSEI!!"

Iruka urked at the all too familiar voice and ducked under the table a little, hoping the danger would pass by. He could hear the doors open and the quick padding of feet running over to the table. "Iruka-sensei, where ar-ACK!" Ruka tripped and fell just in front of Iruka's hiding spot.

Despite his face being a little red from the fall, Ruka grinned up at the tense Iruka then blinked confusingly.

"Why. Hide. Under the table?" Iruka can guess what he was asking.

"Oh! Nothing, nothing! I just...ah! I dropped my pen so I went to pick it up!" Iruka picked up a pen that he DID drop earlier but didn't bother picking it up.

Blink. "Oh. Okay. Anyway, Kakashi-sensei. Give you this." The boy pulled out a mission report and handed it to him.

"Oh. Thank you. But you didn't have to." Iruka muttered, taking the report.

"Don't mind! Kakashi-sensei let me. Um, give it. Couldn't resist!" Ruka squealed.

_'That lazy, son of a...! I'll Kill Him!'_

Iruka's smile became somewhat strained as his eye twitched again, making the new student in his class perk up in alert. He knew he was making him feel nervous but he couldn't help it. That stupid jounin made a little boy deliver the reports and he's probably laughing somewhere nearby how he was taking it.

"Anyway, think I've got the hang. Chakra control thing. Iruka-sensei! Teachings! Helpful!" Ruka smiled.

Iruka blinked, slowly adding them together and when it did, he blushed. He had never been complimented by one of his students before so he couldn't help but stare with his brows raised and eyes wide while Ruka giggled.

"Really?" He mumbled softly. Ruka nodded his head like a bobble head.

"Yeah! The school I use to go to. Really hard. Couldn't study. Boys and girls. Teachers. Keep. Bug. A lot. Surprise. Somehow manage. Stay. Top of the class! Here. Lot more fun! Still. Same attention. From. Classmates!" He said eagerly.

Iruka smiled gently, despite the pounding headache, a little touched at the boy's words. "Really? I'm flattered you like it."

"Well, you ARE the most coolest sensei! Mean. You are! Maybe even cooler. Kakashi-sensei. Despite the fact. Stronger. Smarter. Faster. Higher rank. Than. You!" Ruka grinned.

Iruka's face lit up to a bright red shade before shaking his head furiously, making Ruka blink.

"Y-You got it all wrong! I'm not that cool. I'm just an academy teacher, that's all. Not that exciting." He mumbled, scratching his nose with his eyes darted down.

Ruka huffed stubbornly and snorted.

"IT'S TRUE! Don't care. Kids. Adults. Think. You're very cool!" Ruka said, moving to stand.

Unfortunately, he banged his head under the table. He yipped and rolled on his back, holding his poor little head with little tears at the edge of his tightly closed eyes. The chuunin sighed as his brow twitched, wondering why the gods wanted to make his life so miserable.

_'This is the fifteenth time and he's only been here for three days! ...Oh crap!'_

Both Iruka and Ruka blinked when Genma, Raido, and few other ninjas run over and crowd around the poor child, asking if he was okay and helping him up then arguing who asked him or who got to him first. Ruka tried to get out from the center of the circle but the crowd was too tight to slip through so he had to suffer with questions and arguments. Though, he was kind of happy with the attention because it reminded him a lot of home so it was a little comforting.

"I asked him first, basterd!"

"No, you didn't, you cock-sucker!"

"Hey! It's a senbon, you idiot! A _Senbon!_"

"But I was the one who helped him up!"

"Shut up, scar-face!"

...But it still wasn't right to fight.

Iruka then decided enough was enough and pushed through the crowd to get to the exasperate child, pulling a surprised Ruka in his arms and turned to glare at the group. "Why are you all fighting over stupid things? You're scaring the poor boy!" He asked with a raised brow. Ruka whimpered and buried his face in his neck, arms around his neck and legs wrapped around his waist, which made Iruka feel sympatric for the little boy to go through all this.

Genma and Raido blinked and held their hands up, already knowing this chuunin could be very scary when pushed and backed off.

Unfortunately, the other ninjas weren't aware of this.

"I was helping Ruka-chan here and these guys started fighting over him like kids!" One ninja yelled. "HEY! You were fighting, too, you damn liar!" Another shouted. Again, the arguments started up and Iruka calmly put Ruka down, petting his head with a smile. "Hold on a minute, Ruka-kun. Be right with you." He grinned, making the boy whimper and nod. Iruka straightened himself up and turned around with his hands on his hips, glaring at the group for a minute.

"Ahem!" He cleared his throat.

"You're just a lousy, god damn pedophile!"

"Oh Yeah!? I Dare You To Say That Again!"

"Everyone knows I'm the one who always helps Ruka-chan so there!"

"YOU DO NOT!!"

Iruka's eye twitched as veins popped on his head, cracking his knuckles with a dark, scary expression on his face.

"Would you all JUST SHUT UP, YOU FREAKIN' BASTERDS!!"

Ruka winced and covered his eyes as he could hear screaming, punching, and bashing and peeked a little through his fingers, only to flinch when he witnessed Iruka's wrath. _"Oooh! Ouchie! Sheesh! That smarts! Iruka-sensei certainly does know how to handle these kind of things!"_ Ruka mumbled in awe, cringing every time Iruka hit something very painful. He gapped when Iruka kicked one of the guys in the balls and could only give his blessing that it wasn't him in their place.

...But gave a little prayer that they would somehow still survive this.

"There! That oughtta teach them a lesson!" The scarred man grumbled, wiping his hands a few times.

Then Iruka turned around with a smile, which, for some reason, scared Ruka a little.

"Now then, thank you for giving me this report, Ruka-kun. Though I _really_ perferred it to be Kakashi-sensei, at least its turned in, right? Now, run along and be careful this time." Iruka chuckled, petting Ruka's messy hair, which had been taken out of its ponytail during the scuffle.

"Uh, yes, sensei. I will." He squeaked with a dark blush. He leaned forward and gave him a peck on the cheek, which shocked the chuunin shitless, and pull back with a smile before picking up the fallen band for his hair.

"Bye bye!" Ruka chirped, spun around and ran out, leaving a still stunned dolphin in his wake.

One of the guys on the floor, mumbled with jealousy. "Why does Iruka-sensei get a kiss right after he beats us up?"

_(NEXT SCENE)_

Ruka sighed as Ino and a few other girls, either kunoichi or villager, walked around him, talking non-stop as Ino and one of the girls latched onto each of his arms. He looked up helplessly as he was dragged with them around the streets, trying to ignore the stares they were getting. Well, Ruka didn't know they weren't paying attention to the girls, they were wondering who created such a crowd.

"Ruka-kun! You're looking sexy today!" Ino squealed.

"Yeah! Where'd you get those clothes? Are they a present from your parents?" Another girl asked.

Ruka squirmed under their stares and looked down with a blush, scratching the bandage on his nose. "Uh, they're. Just. Something I kinda...liked so I-"

"You wanted to dress up for me?! Oh, Ruka-kun! You shouldn't have!"

"No, he did it for me!"

"No, me!"

"Me!"

"It's for me!"

Ruka groaned as he watched the girls suddenly arguing around him, smacking his forehead a little. Of course, that action got the girls' attention and asks if he was all right and a bunch of other things that Ruka didn't want to list.

Finally, he looked down at himself, trying to see what drove them so crazy.

Well, so far, he wore a sleeveless white shirt, which looked torn purposely where the sleeves are suppose to be, with the same neck band around his shoulders with the same net like shirt underneath. His original white caprice were replaced with white pants that were not too baggy and not too tight and bandages were wrapped around his lower legs and on his right thigh like most ninjas and on his wrists were also bandages wrapped around his wrists to half-way near his elbow And his hair was down, making him look positively cute and both feminine and manly, which didn't help matters one bit.

_'Hmph, nothing out of the ordinary. People say I act like a girl most of the time and yet, I can't figure them out. Ah, what a mess I'm in.'_ He rubbed his temple to ease the growing headache.

Then he smiled weakly and waved his hands a little at the fighting women. "Uh, girls, stop fighting. Don't like. When people fight. Over. Someone." Ruka tested carefully.

Those words instantly got their attention and they reluctantly stopped, still glaring but Ino, once again, latched herself on Ruka's arm. The girls glared heatedly at the blonde girl but she just giggled and dragged poor Ruka away to her parents' flower shop.

"Did you know my parents own a flower shop? It's a cute little building with lots of flowers like roses, tulips-"

Ruka knew it was rude to just nod and smile but he couldn't help it. This girl just doesn't know when enough is enough. Maybe he can escape without her knowing. Yeah, that's it. The brown-haired boy secretly used the Tajuu Kage Bushin no Jutsu to make a replica of himself and quickly but unknowingly switched places with it and ran off before Ino dragged his clone inside the flower shop. He placed a hand over his chest and sighed in relief.

_"Phew! About time. Better get before she figures it out."_ He muttered to himself.

"There he is!"

"Ruka-kun! Over here!"

_"AH CRAP!"_ Ruka spun around and ran for his life with several, maybe a dozen, or so fan girls running after him. He turned sharp corners, ran around in circles, twisted almost every single turn but it seemed useless. _"Why Does This Have To Happen To Me?!"_ Ruka yelled as he tried to stay out of glomping range of the girls.

"Ruka! Over here!" A voice shouted.

_"Huh? GAH!"_

Something grabbed the back of his collar and yanked him into a empty alley as the girls ran by, trying to find their current object of affection. Ruka blinked and stared at Sasuke, who, apparently, saved him from being eaten alive by fan girls and smiled once the coast was clear.

"They're gone. We can come out now." Sasuke whispered, releasing Ruka's shirt and walking off.

"H-Hey! Didn't. Thank you!" Ruka protested, jogging after him.

"I have no idea what you're saying but it's nothing. I'm just doing you a favor. After all, you know what its like to be in my shoes. See ya." The Uchiha said, still walking.

"Yeah but I-?!"

Ruka's black eyes widen as his stomach felt sick suddenly and fell on his hands and knees, right hand over his mouth to keep himself from throwing up. Sasuke glanced over and his eyes widen, turning around and kneeled next to the ill child. "Hey, what's wrong with you?" He demanded, not sure what to do. "Du...Dunno! Feels...Very pa-painful...! Do-Don't. Feel. So...good!" Ruka mumbled through his hand, trying to keep his lunch down.

Sasuke put a hand on Ruka's forehead and snatched it back with a growl. _'Dammit! He has a fever! When did that happen? He was just fine a second ago! Dammit, what a pain in the butt!'_ Sasuke quickly lifted the boy up, ignoring his protests, and ran to find his sensei.

Well, it didn't take very long because Kakashi was just coming back from his visit to the memorial and about to go inside his apartment when he saw Sasuke running over to him with Ruka in his arms.

"SENSEI! Ruka has a high fever! I don't know how it happened but he just collapsed! Get down here and help me!" Sasuke yelled up at him.

Kakashi could tell by the tone of his student's voice that he didn't know what to do. Poor Sasuke. He doesn't know what to do.

He sighed and jumped down from the building to the ground in front of Sasuke and Ruka. "Give him here." Kakashi ordered.

Sasuke nodded and handed the feverish boy to him, following his sensei up the staircases and opened the door for Kakashi as they went inside. Once in Kakashi's apartment, the twelve-year-old quickly scanned around as Kakashi went to the bedroom before following after the sensei. Kakashi put the panting and flushed Ruka on his bed then pulled the blanket up to his shoulders before quickly leaving to the bathroom. Sasuke waited for a minute near the occupied bed until the jounin came back with a wet cloth and placed it on Ruka's forehead.

"Sasuke, you can go to the bridge now. Tell Naruto and Sakura they can take the day off today. But don't come back here until I tell you. That's an order." Kakashi whispered.

The Uchiha boy stared at his sensei's back for a minute then nodded, turning around and left without another word. Once he was gone, Kakashi let out a sigh of relief before he continued to watch the brown-haired boy lie in his bed, face flushed and sweaty. Ruka's pants were quick and short then bit his bottom lip with his face twisted in pain, shifting as if it would help ease the pain but it didn't. Kakashi then lifted his hand and petted the boy's hair, which seemed to calm the slumbering child but did not help bring down the terrible fever. He pulled his mask down and stared at the sleeping form on his bed.

The elite jounin sighed and shook his head. _'I really need help.'_

"Kakashi...-sensei...?"

Blinking, he glanced over to see Ruka staring at him through half-lidded, hazy eyes and cheeks still feverishly red, damp hair covered in sweat and the wet cloth fell off his forehead onto the pillow when he turned his head. The picture of him like this, despite being sick, made Kakashi almost have a nosebleed but slapped himself hard to stop thinking those perverted thoughts.

Ruka blinked when witnessing the jounin slap himself for no reason at all but ignored it.

"Kakashi-sensei...? How? ...Here?" Ruka asked quietly, pushing himself up with his elbows weakly. Kakashi put a hand on Ruka's chest and pushed him back down before pulling the blanket back up to his shoulders again. "Sasuke brought you here after you collapsed. You were running a high fever and he had to carry you. You should thank him once you get better." He smiled.

"...And you still need to practice on your Japanese." He added.

Ruka smiled gently and nodded slightly. "Yeah. I will." He whispered.

The silver-haired man smiled slightly as he stood up and walked out of the room while Ruka stared at the door for a few minutes before seeing him come back with a glass of water in one hand and a couple of medicine tablets in the other. He sat down on the bed next to the sick boy and held out the tablets and glass, which he slowly took and examined the tablets like he's never seen them before. Then he put them in his mouth and swallowed them, taking a small sip of water before giving it back to Kakashi and laying down once more as Kakashi put the cloth back on his forehead.

"Man, I feel like...crap. Oh yeah. Gave. Iruka-sensei...report. Wonder." Ruka mumbled as he turned on his side, knocking the cool cloth off.

"That's not important right now. Just get better soon." He said quietly, petting the boy's hair again.

Ruka giggled slightly then coughed once and nodded. "Yeah. Don't. Wanna...skip class. Tomorrow. Iruka-sensei. Always. ...Make. Fun."

"Fun, huh? I don't know about that. Sure, I've heard a lot about Iruka-sensei from Naruto but I don't really think teachers are suppose to be fun." He argued mockingly.

"Yes, he is! Before. Came. Here. I've always...wished. Could. Something. That would be fun. You. Guys. And. Doing. Thing. Like! Get. Kunais, jutsus, and all sorts... Things. Never done...before. Not. Suppose. Fun. I love it. No matter... How. Dangerous. Treacherous. Sure. ...May. Say. Today. Still. My...choice. Whether. Ninja...or not." Ruka mumbled softly.

"All right, enough talk. Just go to sleep and get some rest. You've had a long day today. I'm sure Iruka-sensei will understand if you miss a day." Kakashi said, putting a hand over the boy's eyes as indication to go to sleep.

Ruka sighed heavily; sleepy eyes closed and lifted a hand to gently grasp the older man's gloved hand.

"Okay. But. Can you...stay here? At least. Until. Sleep?" Ruka mumbled under the blanket.

The silver-haired jounin's eye widen slightly then became gentle, nodding and allowed the child to snuggle his face against the metal plate on the back of his gloved hand, despite the fact that it made him feel uncomfortable to have a little kid snuggle against any part of him.

Well, he's got to admit, Ruka looked pretty cute snuggling like that, even though the thing he's snuggling is his arm but still, he's cute nonetheless.

Then again, he's always cute so what's the difference?

The jounin blinked upon hearing a small noise and glanced down to see Ruka...had already fallen asleep?

_'You've GOT to be shitting me.'_ Kakashi thought, sweatdropping.

He tugged at his hand but, somehow, Ruka's grip wouldn't loosen and the boy only mumbled before snuggling even further. Kakashi tugged a few more times but all to no vial then sighed defeatedly, mentally wondering how he can be so clingy in his sleep.

He glanced at the small, delicate academy student then his stare went from defeated to completely blank. _'This is sad. I can easily take my arm back from an academy student without this much trouble. I'm an elite jounin, a former ANBU guard whose name is famous for copying over a thousands jutsus, a jounin, dammit! I will NOT give in to a pretty, petite, unbelievably cute, doe-eyed little boy because he's younger...go-good looking...and vulnerable...AH! What AM I Think-!?'_

He blinked as his eye (he always has the Sharingan closed whenever he takes the headband off) widen when Ruka rolled to the side and THUNK... he falls off the bed, still asleep. Kakashi sweatdropped even more, a blank stare still in place as Ruka mumbled something before curling up a little and shivered.

_'This boy's hopeless. Makes me wonder why he wants to become a full-fledged ninja. ...Well, at least I have my arm back.'_

He rubbed the back of his head with a sigh before picking up the small child and put him back on the bed. This time, he made sure that blanket was nice and tucked in more securely so he won't fall off and when he stood up, he shook his head when Ruka's mouth was a little open and a bit of drool hanging out, looking pretty peaceful like that. Kakashi turned to leave the room with only one thought in mind.

_'Great, another Naruto, only more prettier and considerate...wait, that didn't sound right.'_

_(NEXT SCENE)_

"Okay, class, as I've told you before, we're having a test today. I hope you studied hard last night." Iruka smiled, despite the groans from the children in his class.

He almost could hear the inner part of himself snicker at the pathetic whines as he picked up a stack of papers off his desk and passed them out. Once passed out, he went back in front of the classroom and put his hands on his hips in teacher mode.

"Once the test begins, I want all of you to be quiet so you won't-"

"Disturb your neighbor! Please! Try! Best! This test! Major part of your grade!" A voice chirped right behind him.

"GAH!!"

Iruka jumped almost four feet in the air and was about to fall on the floor but was caught in Ruka's arms, bridal style. Of course, the students jumped, too, but soon laughed at Iruka's expression. Iruka blinked and stared wide-eyed at the petite student of his, who only smiled brightly back. He quickly got out of Ruka's arms, mentally wondering how a small child could hold him while scowling the students first then Ruka.

"Okay, okay, now be quiet or I'll add more work for homework!" Iruka threatened cheerfully, gaining groans from the students but it became quiet again.

Then he turned to a grinning Ruka. "You're late, Ruka-kun!" Iruka stated.

Ruka sheepishly nodded and rubbed the back of his head.

"Heheh, sorry about that." He offered no excuse. "Why didn't you come to class yesterday?"

"Oh, sick that day! Fainted. Sasuke. Help. Escape. Fan girls. Carry. Find Kakashi-sensei. Kakashi-sensei. Really. Good. Care!" Ruka grinned.

Iruka nodded in understanding and patted his head. "All right, I guess I can excuse you from yesterday but try to be on time. Now, take this and go to your seat." He said, handing him a test paper.

"Okay!" Ruka winked.

Iruka's face went red and you could practically see steam coming out of his ears as Ruka went to the back of the class in the corner, ignoring the squeals and giggles from the students and sat down next to the huge window. He sighed and put his elbow on the desk, right cheek (face, mind you) in his palm, staring out the window for a moment or two before glancing over at the chuunin.

Ruka closed his eyes and smiled a smile that Iruka never seen before, one that held secrets, making the academy teacher feel a bit nervous.

_'Okay, what's with Ruka-kun today? He's acting like a little flirt and yet, it's like he wants me to react. Is he planning something? Well, I hope it's nothing that will disrupt the class.'_ Iruka thought.

The test started and all the students were quiet with only the sounds of pencils but Ruka was already finished within ten minutes. Ruka stood up, walked down to the front of the class, and handed the scarred chuunin his test. Iruka blinked upon this and grabbed Ruka's test but...the boy wouldn't let go. He blinked again, confused and tugged a little then, with no success, gave the brown-haired boy a small frown.

But Ruka just smiled the same smile he used earlier but this time, his eyes were open slightly with unknown emotion swimming in them.

"Ruka-kun, you can let go now." He whispered, hiding his nervousness.

Ruka let go and smiled, standing in front of the desk as Iruka graded the sheet before glancing up after a moment of silence. "Is there something you want to ask me?" He asked warily. "Mmhm. Wonder. Could. Come. Over. Iruka-sensei's home? After. School. Practice. Chakra control. Still. Have. Trouble." Ruka whispered back.

_'Is that all? Then why is he acting like that? Weird way of asking help.'_ Iruka thought then coughed into his hand.

"Sure. I'll help. Just don't be late like Kakashi-sensei. I don't want another kid taking after him." Iruka nodded quietly.

Then Ruka leaned forward with a mischievous grin, making Iruka leaned back with a blush spreading across his face from ear to ear. "But Naruto takes after you so what are you saying? Anyway, don't worry, I'm not that stupid." Ruka whispered in sudden perfect language then straightened up.

When he turned, he paused then glanced over at the still blushing chuunin.

"Oh, and if you're wondering, I'm just doing this because you look CUTE when you blush." He gushed quietly.

Iruka gapped at Ruka as said boy walked all the way back to his seat next to the window. When Iruka finally recovered, he shook his head as if trying to rid of the blush on his cheeks and drooped his head on his palm, rubbing his forehead. _'Something's not right. Since when did he know how to speak properly so quickly? I can sense that is Ruka-kun but, at the same time, it's not. The chakra level is much too low. What's going on here?'_

_(NEXT SCENE)_

Ruka sighed as he waited outside in the tree on the academy grounds, lying about with his arms folded behind his head, whistling a tune. _'Dammit, when is he gonna get here? He better not be causing trouble.'_ Ruka thought. He blinked when a popping sound came just above his chest and poof, appeared a grinning, eight-inch tall Ruka with...brown cat ears, paws, and tail?

_"All right, how'd it go, Mew? You didn't do anything that needs explaining, right?"_ Ruka asked almost accusingly.

Mew grinned and plopped himself on Ruka's chest, arms and legs crossed.

"Mew! Mew, mew, me-ow!" He purred mockingly. Ruka sighed and leaned back on the tree.

_"I wonder what Iruka-sensei would do if he found out that wasn't me but...it is but...not really me. Urk...I better shut up."_ Ruka mumbled, feeling quite ridiculous.

After dispelling his jutsu, making Mew disappear in a puff of smoke, Ruka sighed then put a big grin on his face. Then he blinked upon seeing a sickly jounin, Hayate, walking by before he blinked and looked up where the child was. "Hey. What are you (cough) doing up there? Aren't you supposed to be in (cough) class?" Hayate coughed between sentences.

Ruka grinned and jumped down in front of the young jounin, landing on his feet perfectly...

...then fell over because of his balance.

"Ou-Ouchie!" He mumbled pitifully.

Hayate sweatdropped but helped the boy up on his feet. "You better be more careful when you jump. It would be better if you can try not keeping your legs straight upon landing. That can seriously injure your legs. If you (cough) bend your knees when your feet touch the ground, it won't harm you and you have a better chance at not falling over (cough, cough) like you just did a moment ago. Do you understand?" Hayate explained through his coughs.

Ruka nodded with a wide grin and glomped him, making the jounin freeze and blush. "Thank you!"

"Uuuh...sure, whatever. Let go." He mumbled.

He let go and grinned widely at him before running toward the school building where Iruka finally came. Hayate stared for a minute before shaking his head, mumbling, "Weird kids." under his breath as he continued on his way.

"IRUKA-SENSEI!!" Ruka exclaimed, glomping on the poor sensei, nearly knocking him over.

"Eheh, sorry for making you wait." Iruka smiled. "Heheh! That. Okay!" Ruka chirped.

"Anyway, wanna get something to eat before we head to my place?" The academy teacher suggested.

Ruka's were big and sparkly puppy-dog eyes and had dog ears on his head and tail wagging happily, on his knees with his "paws" up in front of him like a big puppy, barking like one, too. Iruka sweatdropped, along with any passerby, who happened to see that.

"Um...I'll take that as a yes. Wanna get some ramen at the Ichiraku before we go?"

"Woof, woof!"

"Um...Okay. And you can stop that now."

It didn't take very long for Iruka and Ruka to buy some take-out ramen and head to Iruka's home so they could train to help Ruka with his chakra control but they didn't know of the little surprise waiting to meet them. Or more like, meet Ruka-chan!

"I think it's best if you practice your chakra control on a tree climbing exercise. It is difficult but its one of the ways of controlling chakra. But if you want, we can try something easier for you." Iruka said as he carried a bag of take-out ramen.

"Nah. Tree. Exercise. Fine." Ruka waved it off.

"Okay, but it's not going to be easy." The chuunin teased.

The brunette put on a brave face. "Nothing! Impossible! For me!" He exclaimed.

Ruka yipped when he accidentally bumped shoulders with someone, falling on his face then groaned. "Ruka-kun?! Are you okay?" Iruka demanded, standing next to him. Ruka groaned as he forced himself up to sit on his legs and nodded then blinked stupidly when he felt someone kneel next to him.

"Sorry. I wasn't paying attention. Are you hurt?" A male voice asked. "Huh? Oh, I'm fine. I'm-?!" Ruka's face went red when he felt a hand on his backside.

_"EEEEEP!!"_ Ruka squeaked, jumping four feet in the air.

He turned around with his hands over his backside, glaring tearfully at whoever dared touch him like that. He blinked upon seeing a young man, who appeared to be a few years older than him, stand back up then smirk with a cigarette between his lips. _'Oh my god! An adult version of Sasuke!?'_ He thought, blushing even redder without even knowing.

"Hey. What's your name?" He asked.

Before he could answer, Iruka stepped in with a disapproving frown.

"Excuse me, sir. But I think you should apologize to Ruka-kun first after what you just did." Iruka scowled. The man ignored him by pulling out the cigarette between his fingers and blew smoke in his face, resulting Iruka coughing a bit. "Anyway, as I was saying, what's your-"

_**WHAM!**_

Ruka huffed and puffed with a mad, crazy look on his face, arms and legs spread like a gorilla like always as the young man twitched on the ground, a very nice red footprint on his face (he fly-kicked him). _"Do that to Iruka-sensei again and I'll personally make sure that cigarette of yours is shoved up your ass, you pervert!"_ Ruka shrieked, face turning red again, either for embarrassment or anger...or maybe both.

"Ruka-kun (cough), you don't have to overreact! I'm (cough) fine. But he _really_ shouldn't be smoking." Iruka soothed the boy before any more damage was inflicted on the young man.

Ruka blinked before he could do a jump-kick on the guy's back then put his foot down, turning to face the chuunin with a confused expression on his cute little face. "But...why? Blow. Smoke. Face." Ruka tried to say.

"Yes, I know but it still doesn't make it right for you to kick someone you hardly even know." Iruka sighed.

Ruka then looked like he had a light bulb lit above him as he bent down until he was balancing himself on the front of his feet and put a hand on the young man's shoulder, which he looked up to see the boy smiling down at him. "Hi. Name's Ruka. Yours?" Ruka smiled sweetly. The young man pushed himself up a little until he was on his knees before smirking, wiping his chin with his arm.

"...Sousuke."

_**BAM!**_

Eyes closed with an hmph, Ruka pulled back his fist as the young man, known as Sousuke, was on his back, a hand twitching in the air before smiling up at the sweatdropping academy teacher. Ruka blinked cutely again, wondering why his sensei was staring at him like that when he only did what he told him to do. "What?" He blinked. _'Ruka-kun...actually got the newcomer to say his name when no one could. How did he do that?'_ Iruka thought.

Then he realized he must look pretty stupid and quickly coughed in his hand, a blush on his cheeks before scowling.

"No, that's not what I meant! I meant don't hit anyone unless it's absolutely necessary!" Iruka lectured.

"But-But-But...! Insulted. MY Iruka-sensei!" Ruka exclaimed with a wail.

At that, Iruka blushed even more red and Ruka glomped the poor teacher, clinging onto his waist while Sousuke finally got up, glaring with jealousy. "I see that she's already taken. By a schoolteacher, no less. Oh well, too bad I didn't get to her first." Sousuke scoffed, dusting off his pants before stuffing them back in his pockets. He stilled when he felt an ominous aura behind him and slowly to see an angry looking, brown-haired Iruka look-a-like glaring at him while cracking his knuckles, somehow looking very menacing, despite being small.

"Eh?" Sousuke squeaked.

"Uuuh...! Ru-Ruka-kun! Aren't we forgetting about your practice?" Iruka blurted out in attempt to save the poor young man from Ruka's wrath.

That got the academy student's attention, releasing his hold on the man's shirt (wonder how that got there?) and bounced back to him, floppy brown dog ears and wagging tail appearing on him once more, barking happily. Both Sousuke and Iruka exchanged looks and wisely decided to ask another time.

"O...kay. Anyway, I'm really sorry for the inconvenient but you _were_ asking for it." Iruka smiled sheepishly.

"Hn. Whatever. See you guys later." The adult version of Sasuke turned and walked away, rubbing the back of his head.

Ruka huffed then gasped as if something dawned on him and jumped up, hands around his mouth like a loud speaker. "HEY! I'm! A! Boy!" Ruka shouted the info.

Sousuke paused for a second then continued afterward, not even turning around or responding back. Ruka grinned then giggled. _'I wonder what he thought about it. Well, I'm pretty sure he won't bother me again! And he'll think twice to mess with Iruka-sensei! Hah hah!'_ Ruka thought, thinking he won the war.

"Ruka-kun, we better go before it gets late." Iruka said, motioning for the child to follow.

The small and young brunette grinned as he turned to him, nodding.

"Okay!" He shouted.

He ran to Iruka's side and snatched his larger hand, grasping it tightly as he hummed, skipping every now and then. Iruka was a bit surprised but smiled to see the easy-going, obnoxious, feminine child look so happy as if nothing could ruin this moment. Even though the boy looked so much like him when he was younger, in a way, Ruka was helping him remember the happy times with his parents. Iruka's lips twitched in a gentle smile and his eyes softened into a genuine expression.

_'Ruka-kun...thank you...'_

--(END SCENE)--

Kunoichi (female ninja)

CF: (snicker) Heheh, how was the chappy? Sorry if it took so long but I have other stories, you know! Anyway, don't you just HATE it when you can barely understand half the things Ruka says? Well, try Kakashi-sensei's example and figure it out. If you're fortunate, Kakashi-sensei or someone (who also understands Ruka's weird way of speaking) will say it so you won't have to waste time trying to or it'll drive you nuts!

Ruka: KYAAA! IRUKA-SENSEI!! (glomp poor chuunin)

Iruka: (smiles and pats head) You know, Ruka-kun isn't so bad. He reminds me a lot like Naruto!

Naruto: Yeah! Believe it! (then blink) HEY! IRUKA-SENSEI'S MINE, YOU TEACHER STEALER!

Ruka: (teary-eyed) (whimper) ;;

Iruka: (smacks Naruto over head) Now look what you did! You made Ruka-kun cry!

CF: ; Um, I'll just leave them. Anyway, Naruto4eva, if ya wanna be a character in this story, you have to give me a better description of your character unless you want me to make one up for you. But I'll think about it 'cause, originally, I wasn't planning on having another character in here. (shrug) Oh well. Just letting you know. Anyway, hope you like the next chappy...once I get it out! GRRR! (smacks computer)

Computer: (beeping sounds and turns off)

CF: DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU, YOU GOD-DAMN COMPUTER! DAMN YOU TO THE PITS OF HELL!


	5. Disguises

REAL SUMMARY: Okay, here's a bit of info for you reviewers out there. "This is about a boy named Ruka, who can't speak much Japanese, mysteriously enters the Naruto world in the Wave Country but...he doesn't know how he got there! He is rescued by Tazuna's family then later, leaves with Team 7 to Konoha. All the while, he meets another person who's in the similar situation as him but is Japanese. Apparently, someone is after Ruka but who? And what's this? The newcomers are WHAT?! But they better hurry or Ruka will loose everything, even his name!" Now, if you don't like a bit of OC yaoi, then...WHY THE HELL ARE YOU READING THIS? That includes you, PhantomFaustfan and anyone who dislikes reading or watching any yaoi! All right, thank you! Now, enjoy the story!

_'Japanese or English thoughts.'_

"Japanese." - _"English."_

_"English to _Japanese words._"_

--(START SCENE)--

Mission 5 - "Disguises."

It was a cool and peaceful day in Konoha, though it was in the beginning of summer, which meant Ruka had been here a little over two weeks. It was the twelfth of July but to Ruka, it still felt like spring or something. He even asked both Iruka, Kakashi, and several others if they were sure it was summer, which he received the same answer.

Today, Ruka was laying on the newly made bed, bored to tears, silently wondering when his mentor would return from torturing, I mean, _training_ his genin team.

_"Awww, dammit! I'm so bored!"_ Ruka whined out loud, flailing his arms and legs in the air for the heck of it.

He glared at the ceiling as if his boredom was its fault before sighing in defeat and laid still.

_"I wanna go to the academy but there's no school today. I wanna do missions but I'm not a genin yet. Man, that sucks. And Kakashi-sensei STILL didn't keep his promise to help me with my chakra control thing! That stupid liar!"_ Ruka scolded at the ceiling.

Then his eyes softened.

_'But then again, it's not really his fault. I'm training to become a genin under Iruka-sensei's guidance and he has his own team to train. And also, I can learn how to control my chakra at the academy but...I still want him to help me.'_ Ruka turned his head to the side, little tears leaking out slightly.

His arm automatically came and wiped the tears away before taking another sniff then noticed the closet he had stored all his clothes inside with Kakashi's.

His frown turned upside down.

_"But then again, I could always go explore."_ He chuckled to himself.

Ruka leapt off the bed and opened the closet, rumpaging through it to find some clothes to change.

He grabbed what he was looking for and ran out of the bedroom and into the bathroom, closing it and dumping the clothes on the counter. The brunette climbed on the counter and sat on his knees in front of the mirror, pulling his hair out of its usual ponytail, letting it fall around his shoulders.

Shaking his head a little, he pulled his shirt off and shorts then peeled off the bandage over his nose (he has tears at the edge of his eyes after that) before examining himself, thinking then looked over at his clothes. Ruka then got off the counter and walked out of the bathroom in only his boxers to the bedroom again, grumbling about his stupidity.

Ruka went back to the closet and grabbed a hairbrush and a yellow ribbon before returning to the bathroom. Ruka put on the clothes and smoothed out his small skirt (yeah, I'm pretty sure you're thinking, "WTF?!") before climbing the counter again. The boy grabbed the brush and brushed his hair before putting the ribbon on while leaving the rest of his hair down. Once he was done, he smiled proudly at his work.

_"Cool! Now I look like Tohru from Fruits Basket! Now let's go!"_ Ruka giggled at his own giddiness.

He hopped off the counter and walked out of the bathroom, walked to the front door, opened it, and left after closing the door behind him, smiling the entire time.

_(NEXT SCENE)_

Ruka walked down the streets of Konoha, smiling and oblivious to all the weird/lovey dovey looks he was receiving. He saw some boys nearby staring and smiled at them, continuing on his way without even realizing that the boys were falling all over each other, trying to be the first ones to talk to the "girl", who smiled at them.

Unfortunately for Ruka, a certain someone named Sousuke would be coming along.

Sousuke was just coming out of a store from buying a pack of cigarettes but stopped when he overheard some boys talking about a new girl walking nearby. "Hm?" Sousuke flicked the pack open and grabbed a cig with his teeth as his other hand fished out his lighter.

Once he lit it, he took a long breath and blew out smoke as he listened in on the conversation of some boys.

"I'm telling you! That girl is really cute!"

"Maybe I should try out my luck with her!"

"No way! Who would want to date you?"

"Her skirt is _really_ short, though."

"Hey, wanna see if we could sneak a peek?"

"I wonder what she's like, know what I mean?"

Sousuke decided to stop listening in on them as he moved away, continuing to smoke as he walked in the direction where this pretty girl the boys were talking about went.

It didn't take long for him to find the girl since she stood out a lot.

She wasn't very tall and she appeared very simple and plain, nothing very extraordinary about her at all but at least she was pretty to look at. It looked like this new girl was the type to believe every single word you say and also a goody-goody-two-shoes to the point where it was almost _too_ sweet.

His lips curved into a small smirk, the lit cigarette now between his fingers before crushing it and letting it fall on the ground carelessly, stepping on it as he strode over to the simple girl. Ruka blinked upon sensing someone approach and turned around to see Sousuke, gasping softly.

"Sou...suke?" Ruka whispered his name so delicately like he was afraid to break it.

Sousuke was a little taken back that this girl knew who he was but shrugged it off.

Ever since that boy...what's his name? Ruka, was it?

Ever since Ruka got his name, the academy teacher, Iruka, if he recalled, informed the Hokage, which he told Izumo, and it spread like wild fire, especially with the girls.

Maybe this one was also one of those girls.

Just his luck.

But what he didn't expect was the girl's black eyes become fiery with anger and bristled like a cat, no longer the cute, innocent, goody-goody-two-shoes she once was and turned into a flaming (background), wild, and angry little schoolgirl he ever met!

"Pervert! Go away! Don't Like You! Still! Mad! About Smoking In! MY Iruka-sensei's Face, You Sick Basterd!!" He screamed, surprising anyone nearby.

"...Ow." Sousuke mumbled quietly as he stuck a pinky in his ear, a little deaf.

Ruka huffed and puffed heavily, still on anger mode while glaring hotly at the teenager, who put his hand down after recovering his hearing. Sousuke stared at the "girl" for a few moments then blinked in realization. "Wait a...! You're that kid! The one who socked me in the face!" Sousuke murmured, almost in awe. Ruka nodded with a huff, looking both proud and angry with him, hands on his hips.

"Yeah! What of it?!" Ruka glared.

This glare was supposed to make people uneasy when he does that.

Unfortunately, it was having the opposite effect on the Sasuke look-a-like.

Sousuke's jaw almost fell open when he saw how pretty the small boy looked when he was angry. Actually, he looked very pretty no matter what he did, even though he's younger than him and a guy to add on the list of wrong. Ruka slowly raised a brow when he realized his glare wasn't working, straightening himself a little as the wariness began to set in.

"What? Matter?" Ruka asked slowly, pulling his skirt down a little, feeling a bit self-conscious.

Sousuke's lips twitched into a small lecherous smirk, which made Ruka even more nervous and look away when he couldn't handle Sousuke staring at him like that.

"What's the matter, sweetie? You don't have to be shy." He said slyly, leaning down a little _too_ close for Ruka's taste.

"Um...uuh...d-don't do that, please." Ruka stuttered, his face coloring.

"Why not? I'm not embarrassing you, am I?" He smirked. Ruka shook his head, blushing.

"Then don't worry. You don't have to be _shy_ with me."

He pulled the boy to his side, a large hand on Ruka's shoulder to keep him there. _'O-Okay, what's going on? He's acting very, VERY strange! He's acting like a...like a...!?'_

Ruka quickly pulled away before Sousuke could do anything else he might regret, blushing profusely and stuttering.

"So-Sorry! I-I-I gotta, um...g-go somewhere! U-Um, sorry again! Bu-Bu-Bye!" Ruka sprinted off before he could stop him.

_(NEXT SCENE)_

Ruka opened the door to Kakashi's apartment and slammed it closed behind him, panting heavily and back pressed against the door, looking very scared and confused. Then he groaned, banging the back of his head against the door as his legs gave out underneath him and put his hands out in front of him with swirly eyes.

_"Oooo...why did the basterd do that? He shouldn't have done that, especially after what he did to Iruka-sensei! Who does he think he is!?"_ Ruka thought angrily. He stood up and tore off his cosplay clothes, only in his boxers and pulled the ribbon so his hair fell over his shoulders.

_"Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to go out in a girl's cosplay clothes. Hmm, then what should I wear? Kakashi-sensei already told me to stop wearing those clothes and wear normal ones...but..."_ Ruka paused, eyes sadden.

_"...I just don't feel comfortable wearing anything but cosplay clothes."_ Ruka mumbled.

He looked down at his hands, seeing how small his hands were. Then those brown eyes shifted down to the rest of his body, trying to see what made him so different that Kakashi wanted him to wear boy clothing.

...Well, he had to admit that he looked quite feminine but it didn't seem that bad.

Sure, he had a skinny body like a female's figure but it was nothing to complain about. He had the choice to either look like a boy or girl and he choose both.

Simple as that, isn't it?

The small boy rubbed his eyes before the tears could fall and went to grab some different clothes. As he dressed, he couldn't help but recall memories of how his mother wished he was a girl and dressed him up as one. _"Mama always wanted a little girl. I guess that's how I...I...huh?"_ Ruka blinked, stopping what he was doing.

_"That's weird. How come I can't remember what I was saying? Hmm...oh well. It probably isn't that important."_ He mumbled, finishing off his outfit.

The academy student smoothed out his shirt and looked at the mirror before nodding to himself. _"Cool! I look just like Sora from Kingdom Hearts! Now I need some color and stuff!"_

_(NEXT SCENE)_

Villagers were staring at the weird child walking around in weird clothes and a really weird hairstyle. With such bright red colors, he stuck out like a neon sign. Hell, even a blind ninja could see him if he was on a mission.

This, of course, caused a lot of commotion and whispers.

"What on earth is that child wearing?"

"Did he have fireworks blow up in his hair or something?"

"He's weird...but he's really cute!"

"What kind of sword is that? It looks more of a key to me!"

Ruka smiled with a giggle at all the whispers flowing around him. _'Tee hee! This is great! No one will ever suspect it's really me!'_ Ruka thought, giggling again.

(Sousuke: Does he really think that no one'll find out?! CF: SHH! You're interrupting! Besides, get back on track, you sex fiend!)

While Ruka walked around, oblivious to the shocked and hungry stares he was receiving, Hayate was walking by in somewhat slow pace, one arm holding a couple of documents and the other balled into a fist over his mouth, coughing a bit. He glanced down at the documents and flipped the first one open, reading the first page to another.

_'Where could they be? The Third informed me that they are with Kakashi-sensei and Izumo-san but neither have seen them all day. But I still don't really understand why Hokage-sama assigned me to train two children who aren't even genin yet.'_ Hayate coughed then squinted at the words.

_'Hmm, it says here that a boy named Sousuke isn't even a genin, despite being at the age of seventeen. And the other boy is named Ruka and is eleven years old, barely learning in the Ninja Academy. How am I expected to train two children when I don't even know where they are!?'_

Just as he thought that, he paused then glanced down to see a brightly clothed child walk right past him with a closed smile on his face, humming a tune. He coughed. He almost stepped on the little guy. Before Hayate could continue on his way, Ruka turned around to see who he almost got ran over by then grinned widely.

_"HAYATE-KUN!!"_ Poor Hayate didn't know what hit him.

"UMPH!"

Hayate fell over when Ruka tackled him quite hard, landing on his back, the documents flying up and gently floated down, causing some stares from people nearby. The poor guy stared blankly up at the sky, completely ignoring the fact that a weird looking boy was clinging to his waist and his documents were everywhere.

"Why me?" He coughed.

Slowly, the sick jounin pushed himself up so he was sitting, looking down at the burden on him with that big smile on his face.

"And do I (cough) know you?"

"Uh-huh!" Ruka grinned.

_'Great. That's just peachy. Now to get him off of me.'_ Hayate tried peeling him off but the boy got off on his own to let him up.

Once he did, Hayate sighed when Ruka latched himself on his leg, almost purring. "Uuuh...right. Down, boy." Just that command made Ruka release him, dog ears and tail briefly appearing on him and gave a loud bark.

People stared at the scene as Hayate put a hand over his face.

"Uuuh...c'mon. Let's go before...(cough, cough) you make a scene."

(Naruto: Isn't that already too late? CF: SHHH! QUIET!!)

Hayate quickly gathered the scattered documents in his hands and walked off with Ruka trailing after like a love-sick puppy dog. After the jounin was sure they were far from the curious stares, he turned to see Ruka grinning at him, which was too cute for his own good. Hayate blushed then turned away a little, coughing into his hand. _'Whoever this cute kid is, he better explain why he caused a comotion for me.'_

The sick jounin stared at the boy. "Now...who (cough) are you?"

Ruka grinned. "Remember? Name. Ruka." Hayate blinked.

_'...Well, that explains everything. Now to find the other brat.'_

"Why are you wearing...(cough) that?" Ruka just grinned.

"Like it!" The feminine boy squealed.

"But what happened to your hair? Was it always that color?" Hayate's hand grabbed one of the spikes as if testing it.

Ruka put a finger to his lips. "SE - CR - ET!"

Hayate stared at the grinning face of Ruka, sweatdropping a little. _'What the hell? Ah, forget it. I need to find the other kid so I can brief them on what's going on.'_ The sick jounin looked around, trying to find anyone who might know where Sousuke is.

"All right. Come (cough, cough, cough) with me."

He grabbed the brunette's hand and walked off, still scanning the area for the Sasuke look-a-like.

Ruka grinned the entire way, laughing and skipping between steps while Hayate just ignored the numbness in his occupied hand that Ruka was holding. It took some time but eventually, they found Sousuke in a book store, checking out some magazines that weren't appropriate for someone as innocent and pure like Ruka. Sousuke looked over the magazine to see the disapproving look Hayate was giving him then glanced down to see Ruka blushing and hiding behind the jounin.

Smirking slightly, he put the magazine away then stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"What's up?" Sousuke smirked. "Come with me." Hayate ordered, walking away with Ruka following close behind.

The Sasuke look-a-like frowned then walked after them, eyes trained on the squirming child.

_'A new change of clothes, huh? First, he dressed like a schoolgirl and next, he dresses up like a kid with a weird hairdo with weirdo swords. ...Those ARE swords, right?'_

Ruka glanced over to see if he was staring, only to catch him smirking at him, blushed, and quickly turned away.

_'Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap! He knows its me! Dammit, why does Hayate-kun need us for, anyway?! I don't wanna spend the rest of my life trying to flee from this basterd! He's a pervert!'_ Ruka was too deep in his thoughts that he didn't notice their surroundings had changed. He looked around to see they were in the forest yet still close to the village, which appeared to be some sort of training area with these three freshly cut logs standing there and a couple of dummies nearby in a pile.

"Hayate-kun? Um, why? Here?" The boy asked.

The jounin coughed. "Uhh...right. I'll (cough) explain what's going on."

"Hurry up. I don't have all day. Oh, and I need to talk to the brat since I own him a punch for that lucky shot."

Ruka just stuck his tongue out at him.

Hayate just gave them both a bemused look. "Anyway, the reason why I gathered the two (cough, cough)...of you here is that as of today, you will be (cough, cough) training together with (cough) me."

...What?

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

Sousuke looked a bit dumbfounded, ignoring Ruka's shriek while Hayate just coughed.

_"Bu-Bu-But you can't do that! Sure, I want to train in a squad team but I don't wanna be paired up with him! He's a jerk and a pervert! Uh-uh! No way! Nope! Sorry, no can do! I am NOT doing it! Iie, iie, iie, iie, IIE!!"_

--(END SCENE)--

Iie (no)

CF: (scratches back of head, sheepish) Eh heh heh heh, sorry about the long, long wait. I have 10 different stories I'm working on so...yeah. But I'll try harder next time!

Naruto: Yeah, right! When will that be?

CF: Shut up.

Kakashi: -- This chapter didn't have me in it much. I was only mentioned once or twice.

Naruto: - (grin) Heh heh, maybe because CF hates you or something!

Kakashi: Oh really? (scary eye smiling face) - Well then, for that little comment, tomorrow training will be with Gai-sensei's team so that way, we could learn the important things of teamwork and then we could-

Sakura: (smacks Naruto)

Naruto: OW!

Sakura: You HAD to get him mad, huh, stupid?

Sasuke: Hn. Dope.

Naruto: WHAT YOU CALL ME, BASTERD?!

CF: (sigh) Ignore 'em. I do it all the time.

Sakura: Huh? Wait a minute! I thought you said you went to a party and you didn't see the huge speakers next to you until it played music, which made your ears deaf.

CF: (thinking) _Oh shit!_ (reality) HUH? What'cha Say? I CAN'T HEAR YOU!


	6. Team Hayate

Mission 6 - "Team Hayate."

_"WHY DID I AGREE WITH THIS?!"_ Ruka wailed.

Hayate sighed at the boy's attics, rubbing his forehead with one hand and the other on his hip while Sousuke was watching Ruka cry and sob on the ground. _'Just how old is this kid, anyway? He's acting like a little brat! ...Scratch that thought, he IS a brat.'_ Sousuke thought, annoyed as hell.

But his body didn't seem to agree with his brain. Actually, it was enjoying every moment of it.

Especially one part of his body.

Sousuke's face went entirely red when he noticed how his attention was completely focused on the brunette and quickly turned away, trying to calm himself down. Hayate blinked twice, noticing this but wisely decided not to ask about it before continuing to watch Ruka flail around wildly. "Ruka, stop that. You're (cough) acting like a brat." The new sensei coughed into his hand again.

The boy whimpered but nodded, sitting down with his legs out like a girl and wiped the tears off his adorable, tear-stained face.

Unfortunately, this course of action didn't help Sousuke's "problem" at all.

Ruka blinked his teary eyes when Sousuke mumbled something under his breath that sounded like, "Stupid," and "Brat," before forcing himself to stand, though he looked like he wanted to cry again.

_'Man! I can't believe what I'm forced to be paired up with that jerk! This is DEFINITELY not like the fanfiction stories on the internet where the girl gets zapped into the Naruto world and later is placed in Kakashi-sensei's team! Eh?! Wait! I'm not a girl! Okay, maybe a little but that's not the point! ...Why am I arguing with myself?!'_ Ruka frowned, mostly at himself.

Hayate coughed into his hand, both to get their attention and his coughing habit, which worked either way.

"Uuuh...now then, any missions or exams will be delayed (cough, cough) until I think you're strong, uum...enough to do that kind of thing. But even if I did approve, you (cough, cough) would need to pass the genin exams...uh, in the Academy to be allowed to do such things unless someone is willing to take you as their (cough) apprentices (cough)." He explained, despite his coughs.

Ruka raised a hand and the sick man nodded to the boy.

"So...YOU'RE our sensei a-and...uh, we're...ap-ap...appre...appre-"

"Apprentices, yes. (cough, cough, cough) Any more questions?" Hayate scanned the boys for a few seconds then Sousuke waved his hand a little.

"Yeah, I got a question. Why am I in this, too? You _do_ know that ninjas were in the past, right? Some still do practice the art of ninja but there's no more ninjas existing anymore unless you read comic or manga books." Hayate coughed into his hand, brow twitching a bit with a frown but said nothing to the young man's question. "Anyway, so for now on, (cough, cough) you'll be training under my supervision."

Unknowingly, the three had no idea what was in stored for them. Hee hee hee!

_(NEXT SCENE)_

_One Week Later..._

"...Mnnnnn...ooooo...nnnnnnnnnnn..."

Whispering could be heard in the mission lounge as people glanced nervously to see Hayate's form slumped completely on the table, a empty glass in the right hand and head flat on the surface. Genma, Raido, Izumo, and Kotetsu, who were taking a lunch break from their work, glanced at each other and Genma was the first to approach the man.

"Hey. What the hell happened to you?" He leaned in to get a better look.

"Yeah. You look like shit." Raido commented, taking a seat next to the poor sick man.

"Nnnn...just leave me to die (cough) in peace."

Kotetsu chuckled and patted his back good-naturely. "Heh heh, man, whatever happened must've been pretty exhausting to make you look even worse when you're just coughing!" He laughed, ignoring Izumo's warning look.

"Go to hell."

This caused Kotetsu to laugh even harder, which caught the attention of a few other jounins. Who happen to be Kurenai, Asuma, and Kakashi.

...Well, mainly the first two. Kakashi was too busy reading.

"What's going on here?" Kurenai asked once they walked over while Kakashi was giving a longing look towards the orange book, which was now in Asuma's hand, which was thrown on his shoulder like he was carrying luggage. Hayate gave another groan, something along the lines of aspirin and more water. Izumo sighed and turned to face the group. "He's exhausted." He said as if it was the answer to all.

The kunoichi blinked, not really understanding the vague explanation. Since when _didn't_ he look exhausted?

"I know that. But why, I mean? Why is he exhausted?" She tried again. The chuunin shrugged helplessly. Finally, the jounin forgot about his book to fix his gaze on the sick man and place a hand under his chin thoughtfully. "Well, I'm pretty sure if he goes home and gets some rest, he'll be fine the next morning. Anyway, where'd Ruka go off to?" He thought out loud, scanning the lounge as he did. Asuma gave him a curious look. "You don't know where he is?"

Kakashi shook his head. "No. For all I know, he could be running down the street with a bunch of fan girls chasing him."

"Hmm, he seems to be very popular these days."

"Yeah. But every day, I find him taking off somewhere. Just the other day, I spotted him walking with Sousuke, you know? The one that lives with him?" Jerking a thumb to Izumo, who scowled in return. Asuma nodded. "Yeah. What about that guy?"

"...It was...interesting...to say the least."

His male companion smirked at the disturbed look on Kakashi's face, well, what's visible of his face. "Come on. What happened?"

"...He tried to put an arm over him but Ruka got pissed and beat his face in. Sousuke didn't try it again after that."

Asuma snickered at his blunt reply, a hand over his mouth while being careful with the cigarette, trying to keep his laughter to a minimum. But stopped when Kurenai gave him the _look_ before turning her attention back on the exhausted man slumped over the table. "So tell us. What happened?" She asked kindly. Hayate lifted his head a bit so his chin rested on the table, staring at her with an even more sickly and shadowed expression on his young features. He put a hand to his mouth, coughing for a minute before forcing himself to sit up, leaning back in his chair with his arms limp at his sides. "Well...the reason for my current state is (cough) Sousuke and Ruka."

Blink, blink. "What?" Kakashi muttered.

"At first, I thought (cough, cough, cough) the training would be easy enough but...(cough) I was wrong."

_--FLASHBACK--_

_"Alright now, you guys can (cough, cough) take a break!" Hayate called over._

_Almost at the same time he finished his sentence, Ruka fell from the tree he was currently trying to run up with only his chakra for god knows how many times while Sousuke panted on the ground, completely exhausted. He never excersized this much in his entire life! Glancing over to the side, he saw Ruka sitting on his butt, rubbing his sore little head with a few mumbled words he couldn't understand before the child glared at the tree like it was its fault..._

_...then fell back on the ground, just as exhausted._

_The Sasuke look-a-like sweatdropped. 'Where does he get all that energy? The freakin' sun?!' He thought exasperately. Sousuke closed his eyes for a few moments to get his breathing patterns back to normal then something landed on his stomach, which made him jump into a sitting position._

_"What the?" A lunchbox sat on his lap. The young man looked up to see his sensei staring down at him._

_"My girlfriend thought it would be...(cough)...nice to, uuh, give you guys something to eat after (cough, cough) training. So here." Hayate explained, nodding towards said lunch on his lap. Then he turned to the brunette sitting a little aways from them before walking over and repeating the same scene except with Ruka grinning and hugging him like no tomorrow before Hayate gently pried him off._

_Lunch time was pretty quiet between the group, peaceful in fact. Today might be the day that nothing will go wrong. The jounin sighed as he ate._

_Ruka, as usual, ate like any other kid but paused in mid-chew when he looked up to see Sousuke just seating himself next to him. Shooting him a glare, he continued to eat at a much faster pace. He hoped to finish so he could get away from the pervert who insulted his idol._

_"...Heh."_

_His brow twitched at the chuckle but said nothing. "Heh, seems like someone's hungry." Sousuke smirked._

_Ruka glared, putting the half-eaten box lunch in his lap. "No. Just. Wanna get away. From. Pervert."_

_Shrug. "Whatever you say, Ru-Ru."_

_The child almost choked on his rice upon hearing his new "nickname" before giving him a teary-eyed glare. "What'cha Call Me?!" He yelled._

_"Ru-Ru."_

_"Grrr! That's it! You're DEAD!!" (he spoke in English that time.)_

_Hayate blinked and looked up from his meal in time to see the youngest of his apprientances tackle the teenager in such a rash action, yelling, punching, kicking, and biting while Sousuke tried to save himself by trying to untangle himself and run away but it failed rather miserably. "Uuuh, st-stop! Hey! Stop!" The jounin ran over to break it up._

_...He should've left them alone._

_So just about everything went downhill since then._

_--END FLASHBACK--_

"So that's why you're like this?" Kurenai asked. The sick jounin nodded and allowed his head to rest on the table again in misery.

"Wait a minute! So you're Ruka's sensei now? How come I was never told this?!" The Copy Ninja demanded, looking utterly lost. The entire group except Hayate gave him looks as if he were dumb. "Yeah. We ALL know about it. Didn't Hokage-sama tell you since you _are_ his guardian?" Raido asked, hand on hip.

With no response, he took it as a no.

"Guess we got a lot of explaining to do so I'll give you the summary. Well, about a week ago, Hokage-sama decided to make Hayate here their sensei because Ruka is way late to enter the Ninja Academy since he's almost twelve and is currently inexperienced with chakra and Sousuke was already past the age limit but possesses good potientual if given the right training. So for the past week, Hayate has been training them to become decent ninjas. But since those two don't seem to get along, it makes things harder on both Hayate and themselves...well, on Sousuke since Ruka seems to be lasting a tad bit longer than him in stamina but that's besides the point." The scarred jounin sighed, taking a deep breath from all that talking.

"For an entire week? I knew he wasn't telling me something but he didn't tell me this!" Kakashi mumbled out loud.

Asuma blinked. "Didn't Ruka tell you at least?"

He shook his head. "No. Nothing. He didn't say a word." The jounin, unknowingly to himself, had a depressed look on what's visible of his face.

Izumo then perked up with a finger on his chin. "Come to think of it, where _is_ Ruka-kun? Nowadays, you'd hear him screaming down the street, running away from a mob of village girls at least once a day." It also seemed to dawn on his best friend as Kotetsu nodded in agreement.

"You're right. Maybe he's hiding?"

"Uuh...could be."

_(NEXT SCENE)_

Ruka sneezed then yawned quite loudly, tired from today's training as he walked around the streets that late afternoon, dressed in the outfit Kakashi made him wear one time before he got sick and hair down completely, taking a rather long and made-up road to Kakashi's apartment. He didn't want to go home all pissed and touchy when his mentor might be around. Last time he did that, he felt very guilty and still can't look at him in the eyes...uh, eye. But that still didn't mean he's going to let Sousuke off easy. After harassing and teasing him with his new nickname today, he wasn't feeling up to facing Kakashi right now.

Sighing in defeat, Ruka turned to head back but stopped when he saw a something that looked like a ponytail. Only one person came in mind and that was...

_"IRUKA-SENSEI!!"_ He squealed.

The brunette took off after his idol and turned the corner where the ponytail disappeared then zeroed in on his prey. Then with an all mighty leap, he tackled the young man with the speed of a missle, which sent them both to the ground, hard. Ruka giggled and snuggled his head against a firm chest. _"Iruka-sensei!"_ The small boy sighed, eyes closed.

"O-Ow...!"

The boy blinked. _'Huh? That doesn't sound like Iruka-sensei.'_

Ruka pulled back and looked down to see it wasn't the man he loved and admired but, instead, a boy around his age underneath him. Sure, he had the ponytail but his skin was lighter, he didn't wear the usual outfit the chuunins and jounins wear, and, most importantly, he didn't have a scar across his nose.

It was none other than Shikamaru.

Blushing, he quickly scrambled off him and tried to apologize but slapped himself and decided it was better to help him up than continue on like an idiot, which he did immediatly. _"I-I'm so sorry! I thought you were Iruka-sensei and I really wanted to spend time with him so I got really excited! I'm sorry if I hurt you in any way and if there's anything wrong, I'll try and help you-"_

Shikamaru put a finger on his lips, silencing him. Ruka stared at him with a guilty look.

"...What the heck are you talking about?"

Ruka fell over, leg twitching in the air. _'Wh-Wha?! That's it? He's not mad or anything?'_

"Hey. Are you all right?" He asked, brow raised.

The brunette climbed back on his feet, waving weakly in a attempt to tell him that he's fine. "Y-Yeah. I'm sorry. About earlier." Ruka mumbled quietly, looking down. Shikamaru shrugged his left shoulder a bit to make sure nothing was broken then stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Sure. But what was that talk about Iruka-sensei?" He asked. He almost took a step back when Ruka's grin seemed to brighten like a star.

"Kyaaa! Iruka-sensei! So COOL!!" Shikamaru stuck his index fingers in his ears to block out most of the high-pitched squeal.

"Teh...so troublesome." He muttered, putting his hands down.

The small boy blinked then blushed with a sheepish smile. "Sorry. Name's Ruka. Yours?"

"...Shikamaru."

His smile widen more, which made Shikamaru wonder if that was even possible. "Shika-kun!" Ruka chirped. Said boy groaned at the nickname the younger kid came up with and looked away while rubbing his neck, trying to hide his embarrassment. "Troublesome girls. Anyway, I better get going. Watch who you tackle next time." He turned to walk away but felt a hand grab and pull his elbow, spinning him around. Shikamaru blinked when he saw the smaller boy look like he was pouting or something, he couldn't tell but he knew Ruka wasn't exactly happy for reason unknown to him.

"Ruka no girl!" He huffed, hands on hips.

Unlike most people, the shadow boy understood what he was saying, despite the errors.

Brow raised, he turned back, still looking over his shoulder a little. "So you're a boy?"

Ruka nodded, happy that at least this guy didn't seem all that surprised or shocked. "Hmm, well, sorry about that. I'll be going now." He sighed, walking away again. He only walked for two minutes before turning around to see the same child following right behind him. "Teh, so troublesome. What do you want?" Shikamaru sighed. The brunette blushed a little and scratched the bridge of his nose with the same sheepish smile. _'Cute.'_

"Um, well...it okay if...I hang with...?" Ruka asked quietly.

"...Sure."

Blinking, Ruka stared up at him before grinning widely. "KYAA! SHIKA-KUN!!" He latched onto his arm like a loyal puppy dog. Since his arm was currently occupied, he used his other hand to plug up his left ear. "You're too loud." Shikamaru complained.

Even though he said that, Ruka continued making happy little noises as they walked through the streets with him attached to the older boy's arm. The genin sighed then glanced at the child on his arm, sweatdropping. _'Teh...so troublesome. A boy like him shouldn't be so clingy...or tackling random people without warning. Ah, what a drag!'_ The boy sighed again. "Shikamaru! Get your lazy ass over here!"

Ruka stiffened upon recognizing the voice while Shikamaru gave a light irritated grunt.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming." The lazy genin began to walk towards the source.

Stopped in his tracks, he realized he couldn't move and looked back to see his little companion had exchanged his arm for the back of his shirt, digging his face in his back.

"Hey. What's wrong?" Shikamaru asked.

He couldn't get a reply when his attention shifted and turned to see Ino running over with his best pal, Chouji, walking along while munching on some potato chips. "Hey." He greeted but was cut off. "Where the hell were you?! You suddenly disappeared on us right before our mission!" She shrieked. "Calm down. Pops wanted me to help him out and deliver some medicine to the hospital since they're a bit low on deer antlers." Shikamaru explained, scratching the back of his head.

"Hey, who's that girl behind you?" Chouji muffled around his chip, leaning to the side to look.

"Hm? Oh, this guy? He's a boy, Chouji, and his name's-"

"RUKA-KUN!!"

Next thing he knew, Ino roughly shoved him aside and giggled as Ruka stiffed with wide eyes, his hair acting up like a cat (you know, like in the manga). The chubby boy quickly went to help his friend off the ground, who groaned and shook his head to get rid of the dull ache. "Troublesome." He grumbled but thanked Chouji. He stood on his feet and dusted himself off before stuffing his hands in his pockets to watch as Ino practically strangled the poor child to death.

"I can't believe you came all this way just to see me! Ruka-kun, you're just too much!"

"...Erk...err! Gyaaaah!" Ruka gasped, face changing colors.

Her teammates began to worry.

"Um, Ino, I think you're sufficating him." Chouji tried to reason with her.

The kunoichi blinked for a second or two then looked in her arms to see her crush's eyes have become swirly. "AHH! I'm so sorry, Ruka-kun! Are you okay?! I was just so happy that you were here! Ooh, I'm so sorry!" She apologized profusely.

The child couldn't hear her, too busy sucking in much needed air. But as soon as he recovered, Ruka quickly dislodged himself from her and dove at the Nara boy, arms hooked under his armpits to grab onto his shoulders from behind and legs wrapped around his waist. Stumbling back but regaining his composure, Shikamaru stared dumbfounded at the whimpering bundle in his arms, ignoring the odd stares he was receiving from his team.

"It wasn't _that_ bad, was it?"

"...I think he's afraid of Ino."

Said girl urked and slumped her shoulders, a shadow over her eyes with a depressing atmosphere surrounding her.

"You're probably right, Shikamaru."

"I don't blame him. Teh, girls are so troublesome."

Ino would have beaten them for that remark but hearing Ruka whimper made her think twice and sigh sadly. "I'll see you guys later. Bye, Ruka-kun." And with that, she walked off, still in depressed mode. The boys watched her until she was out of sight before shifting their gazes on the smallest of them, who only tightened his grip on Shikamaru as if telling them that he wasn't going to let go any time soon. Said carrier sighed exasperately before wrapping his arms on the child to keep him from slipping and falling.

"Sorry about this but I better take him to his parents." Shikamaru sighed.

"Okay then. Good luck, I'll just go by Ichiraku for some ramen. Bye bye." Chouji walked off to said restuarant.

_'Always about food, huh? Teh, troublesome. Now to find out where he lives.'_ The twelve-year-old turned and walked in the opposite direction his friends took with Ruka still clinging to him. "Hey. Ruka, where do you live?" He asked, shifting him in his arms more comfortably.

The brunette mumbled something against his chest but he couldn't hear it.

"Speak up. You got a mouth, use it."

"Don't. Remember."

Shikamaru stopped in his strides, ignoring the weird/jealous stares he was getting from the people around them and looked down, only to see the top of the boy's little brown head. "Then where are your parents? Are they at work?" He tried again.

Ruka just shook his head and looked up enough so the shadow user could see his big downcast eyes.

"No. Papa. No work...here." Ruka whispered.

"Fine. What about your mother?"

"Mama died."

His eyes blinked at this as he watched the boy more seriously. "..."

Ruka turned his head and rested the left side of his face on his chest, staring downwards. "Papa say...something from...childhood. Made her die." He said, subdued.

"Something from her childhood? What was it?" Shikamaru asked calmly.

He shrugged. "Don't. Remember. Too small then."

The genin observed the bundle in his arms for a moment to see that Ruka had dug his face in his chest again. Probably too painful a memory for him to revive. _'So he's a child of a single parent? Hmm...well, I better find out where his dad is. Won't do any good if he gets depressed. Teh, troublesome.'_ He thought.

"Hey, let's change the subject." He suggested.

Ruka lifted a hand to rub his adorably big eyes cutely. _"H-Hai!"_

"So where's your father then?"

"Not here."

Blink. "Ehh? Are you visiting from another village?"

_"Iie."_

"So...you live here?"

_"Iie."_

It took a lot of patience not to groan but Shikamaru somehow managed. "All right then. How about we go ask around and..." He paused, remembering the hungry stares they were received earlier. "...never mind. We'll go over to my place and ask Pops. Maybe he knows." Ruka nodded and the genin started for his home.

--(END SCENE)--

Iie (no)

Hai (yes; yeah)

Kunoichi (female ninja)

CF: Eh heh heh, sorry if it took so long! I had a writer's block until two days ago. So...how do you guys like it so far?

Hayate: (still miserable) ...

CF: ; ...Uuh, I guess he needs a break, huh?

Kurenai: Yes, he does. After what you put him through.

CF: Eh heh, sorry, Hayate-san!

Hayate: Mnn...go to hell...

CF: (sweatdrop) ...Um, don't worry! Some sleep and he'll be fine! Now, hopefully, I won't take so long updating. Wait until the next chappy!

Ruka: REVIEW PLEASE!! (gives most adorably cute, unresistable, puppy-dog eye look) -


	7. Smile for me

Mission 7 - "Smile for me?"

_"Sugoi!"_ Ruka awed at the fairly large building that belonged to the Nara family.

Shikamaru sighed at how easy it was to please the boy before looking at the subject of Ruka's attention.

It wasn't fancy or any different from other houses. Not too pretty but not too ugly, just so-so. Nothing out of the ordinary. Then why is this kid acting as if it is the most amazing thing he's ever seen?

"Come on. Pops should be here." The shadow user walked up to building with Ruka still attached.

Shikamaru had a few difficulties taking off both his and Ruka's sandals once inside since the boy refused to let go of him. One, he had a hard time bending over with Ruka in the way but somehow managed. Second, he had to reach back to take the brunette's shoes off as well. Having a child cling to you like a baby monkey does to its mother isn't how its cut out to be.

_'Ah, I sure hope he'll let go before I find Pops.'_

"Hey! Pops! You here?" He called, walking past the kitchen and dining to another hallway.

Ruka lifted his head up from the older boy's chest to take in his new surroundings, awing at everything they passed by. "Kyaa! Kyaa! Kyaa!" He snuggled his face in Shikamaru's chest, which made him blush. "H-Hey! Stop that! Knock it off!" The twelve-year-old snapped.

It was then that his feet decided to trip over themselves. With a sharp yelp, he fell forward with a hard thwump on top of the poor child. Shikamaru groaned as he lifted himself up on his hands and knees, shaking his head to get rid of the dizziness until realization dawned on him. "Ruka! Are you okay? Hey! Say something!" He demanded, shaking the boy a little. But Ruka remained limp, swirls in his eyes with a goofy grin plastered on his lips.

"Eh heh heh heh heh!"

"...What a drag."

Just when he was about to get off the kid, his father, Shikaku, turned the corner from the kitchen and stopped in mid-step, eyes trained on his son, who trapped a small girl on the floor. Shikamaru stiffened, normally narrowed and lazy to wide and surprised eyes, watching what he might do or say for a few long moments. He didn't do anything but stare at them, observing them as if he's trying to figure out what was going on, though that still didn't ease his nerves. But he didn't expect what would come next.

"...Use the bedroom next time." Shikaku offered lazily, walking to the living room.

His son would've fell over at this but knowing Ruka was underneath, he couldn't. The adult paused in his tracks and looked over his shoulder. "Oh, and make sure to lock the door. Your mother won't be pleased to hear you're doing a girl." He added.

Shikamaru frowned. "She's a _boy_, Pops."

Shikaku, or "Pops" as his son referred to him, blinked and tilted his neck to see the still dazed child on the floor. "A boy, huh? I thought you wanted to find a normal girl, who doesn't look too pretty but not too ugly?" He questioned. "No! I mean, yes! Ugh, troublesome!" Shikamaru turned his head to the left and rubbed his neck, a blush on his face. His father just smirked at his embarrassment before leaning over, nudging him a little. "Don't worry. No harm in liking boys. Just be careful from now on." With that, he turned back to the kitchen, muttering something about getting a glass to drink with.

Poor Shikamaru was left there, now standing, looking like he just missed something. How did things turn out this way?

_"...I-Itai...!"_

Blinking and looking down, he saw that Ruka was finally regaining conscious as he slowly sat up on his left elbow, using the other free hand to rub the tender spot of his head that hit the hard and cruel floor. "You all right?" Shikamaru asked. "Hu-Hurts!" Ruka whimpered, trying to hold in his tears. When that didn't work, his little fingers curls into fists and lifted up to rub the tears that escaped his tightly closed eyes. The older boy rolled his eyes. _'Great. He's crying. Teh, so troublesome!'_

"Hey, hey! You're just fine. You don't gotta cry about it. If you were bleeding _then_ you have something to cry about!" Shikamaru sighed.

The boy just sniffled lightly.

Shikaku came back with a half-empty glass of water in hand to see his son trying to calm his (in his mind) "boyfriend" by using verbal orders, which didn't help much at all. "Shikamaru!"

Said boy turned to see what his father wanted. "Yeah?"

"Come over here."

He sighed and walked over, trying to ignore the quiet sniffles made by Ruka on the floor. "What is it, Pops?" The genin asked lazily.

Shikamaru expected him to smack him over the head, receive a scolding, or even a disapproving glare but he didn't expect him to throw an arm around his neck and pull roughly so their backs were turned to the boy. "Ahh! H-Hey! Pops!" He yelped, trying to get him to release his neck. His father ignored his complaining before glancing over his shoulder to smile at the cute teary-eyed child, who lifted his head to see what the comotion was about. "Boy, I'm going to have a moment with him. Can you wait in his room?" Ruka wiped his tear-stained cheek then nodded.

"His room is down the end of the hallway to your left."

Sniffling, Ruka slowly pushed himself up on his feet and did what he just said before opening and entering said room. Once the door closed, he released his son, who rubbed his sore neck with a acussing glare.

"What did you do that for?"

Shikaku sighed heavily, crossing his arms and leaned against the wall. "To set you straight. The boy-"

"His name's Ruka, Pops, not boy." He corrected.

"That's his name? Strange. Oh well. Anyway, that's not how you comfort your partner. He isn't going to understand if you keep telling him to stop crying. He needs to know that you're just trying to help. If you don't, your relationship with him will surely not end too well." He advised wisely. _'...He does know that he's not my boyfriend, right? I mean, he can't seriously think I like him, right? Man, what a drag!'_ The poor boy sighed heavily.

"Hey, Pops. I don't think you understand what happened but I-"

His father didn't listen when he saw a bird flying around outside the window before lifting a hand to silence him. "You're going to have to tell me later after I get back. I'll see you later, if I don't receive a mission." And with that, he disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving his son staring at the spot where he use to stand.

Despite trying to restrain himself, a very frustrated sigh escaped him before scratching his head.

"Man, what a drag. How did things turn out this way? Teh, so troublesome!" Shikamaru muttered under his breath. He glanced down the hallway to his door that led to his bedroom where the cute doe-eyed boy waited inside.

_'...Crap. I can't go comfort him now. I have to leave in a little bit to see if we have any missions or training today since I'm pretty sure Asuma-sensei's not happy with me. And knowing him, I won't be back until dinner and I won't have time to ask around for his father...unless he's been abandoned or something. Ugh, I'm thinking too deeply into this! I feel a headache coming on.'_ He rubbed his forehead then walked to the dining room.

Once to his destination, he grabbed a napkin then quickly looked around until he saw a pen laying on the table. It was always there whenever they wanted to leave notes. Grabbing it, he quickly wrote down a message and placed it on the end of the table facing the doorway of the kitchen so his mother could see it before stuffing his hands in his pockets and walked down the hallway to his door. Instinctively, he knocked once then mentally slapped himself.

Why did he have to knock and ask for permission into his own room?!

Grunting in irritation, he opened the door to see everything was still in tacked while Ruka sat on the bed, arms hugging his knees to himself with only the top of his brown head showing. By the looks of his shoulders shaking, he was still upset and probably crying. Quietly, not to disturb or startle the boy, Shikamaru quickly slipped in, leaving the door open and crossed the distance between them so he stood in front of him.

The brown-haired boy tensed when he heard someone next to him but didn't move nor lift his head. He sighed again then sat down next to him. The awkward silence only lasted for a few moments.

"...Hey. I'm leaving in a little bit. I know its troublesome but I won't be back until dinner so you can stay here if you want. If Mom comes in and asks why you're here, just explain to her and wait in the house. I don't want any trouble by the time I get back, okay?" Shikamaru leaned over, trying to see his face.

But the brown head shifted in a small nod yet, never lifted.

He was quiet for a moment then sighed, getting off the bed to stand. "Well, if you're bored, you can look around the house a bit and when you're tired, you can use my bed. Is that fine with you?"

This time, however, Ruka lifted his head until you can see his teary eyes then nod with a sniffle.

The older boy couldn't help but stare at the student for a few moments longer before turning and walking to the door but stopped just between his room and the hallway. Glancing over his shoulder to see the brunette watching his every move, a small half-smirk graced itself on his face, causing Ruka to lift his head up completely with a gasp, cheeks flushed red, before leaving to wherever his teammates might be.

_(NEXT SCENE)_

"Now that you're officaly a genin, you'll need to be placed in a team." The Third placed the signed papers to the side and smiled at the person he was speaking with.

"Okay. But with who?"

The old man blew his pipe for a minute in deep thought before setting it down on his desk. "Hmmm...there is one team that currently has a vacant spot to become an offical three-man team. They just started not too long ago so you shouldn't have a hard time catching up. And also, the students aren't even genin yet so you should be a great addition to them."

Blink. "What? Not even genin? Then how come they're a team?!"

"Because they are in a difficult situation. They are the two indiviuals who are not of this world."

"You mean...they're the guys I've heard about?"

"Yes. They're names are Ruka and Sousuke and you do well to respect them. I don't want them to feel unwelcomed and out of placed than they already are. I hope you will become a good friend to them."

Nodding, the person bowed low. "I wish for the same. Thank you very much, Hokage-sama."

_(NEXT SCENE)_

_Later, fifteen past ten o'clock..._

_'Dammit! Where the hell is he?! I've been looking for three hours already!'_ Kakashi panted as he stood on top of a building, looking exhausted from searching.

"Ruka, where are you?" He mumbled to himself.

He took off his headband, making sure the Sharingan was closed and wiped his forehead, not minding if bits of silver hair got in his eyes. Putting it back on, he sighed heavily and scanned the streets again with his eye, concern beginning to take place but he managed to shield it before it came out into the open. The jounin knew he shouldn't worry too much but Ruka, being who he is, was just too innocent and cute that anybody might want to take advantage of him.

He felt like he should protect him. You can ask anybody here and they'll tell you the same thing!

But...it isn't like Ruka to just suddenly disappear like that.

Sure, get lost and forget how to get back to the apartment but he always finds him at his usual spots like the Academy, the ramen shop, and a few other places.

But now, its like he never even existed!

_'Dammit!'_ Again, for the millionth time, Kakashi leapt from roof to roof in hopes of finding his tiny roomate.

_(NEXT SCENE)_

"All right, you guys are done for the day. Go home." Asuma announced.

His genin team were too tired to glare or yell at him for the unfair punishment brought upon them by the lazy one of the group so all three laid on the ground, sweating and really hungry. "Awwww man! T-Tell me again...what d-did...you do to...make us...g-go through hell...?" Chouji whimpered, flat on his belly. It took a moment for him to catch his breath to answer.

"I told you, I was...late. I had...to take care of...some things." His friend panted, staring at the darkening sky like he always does.

_'Man, the clouds are so lucky. They're free and can go wherever the wind takes them while, unlike me, I'm trapped here on the ground where nothing but troublesome things happen. What a drag.'_ The genin thought.

"This is your fault, you know." Ino grumbled as all three stood up.

"Yeah, yeah."

Once they were ready and regained their breath, Team Ten went their seperate ways with their own plans to get some rest as Shikamaru strode down the nearly empty streets of Konoha to his home. He felt so tired and dirty that he just wanted to take a quick bath, get a bite to eat, then go to bed. Just thinking about his warm, inviting bed made him long to just go to sleep. But, unfortunately, by the time the lazy boy returned home, it wasn't going to go as planned.

"I'm home." Shikamaru yawned tiredly, taking off his shoes and entering the house.

When he walked into the living room, he found his mother staring at him hard as if telling him he was in trouble or something. The shadow user blinked for a moment, not sure what she was upset about this time then it hit him.

Ruka was on her lap.

Asleep.

_'Ugh, so troublesome.'_ Shikamaru sighed.

"You have some explaining to do." She stated, trying not to wake the slumbering child.

He nodded and walked over until he stood in front of her. "You did get the note I set on the table, right?" His mother nodded but the stern look did not leave her features. _'What's her problem? Is she upset that I left Ruka here all by himself or something?'_ He scratched the back of his head in thought.

Shikamaru yawned but said, "What is it? Is there something I'm not getting?"

"What I want to know is why I found a little girl in your room, crying!"

...Oh. _That._

The genin sighed heavily then glanced to the side, a tiny blush barely noticeable on his cheeks but she didn't see it. "_He_ was crying because he hurt his head on the floor when I tripped and fell on him. He was holding onto me at the time. I was going to ask Pops if he knew where Ruka's father lives but he left before I can explain anything." Her son explained.

She blinked, surprised (she didn't know Ruka is a boy) then nodded, accepting that for now. "All right. He may spend the night here since he can't find his way home but YOU..." a single finger came too close to his nose, which made him move back slightly, "...will be in charge of him until we can find his family."

"H-Hey! Hold on a second!"

"Now that we've cleared that up, I'll warm up some dinner and you will wake Ruka-chan up." His mother gently scooted the boy off her lap enough not to disturb him but also stand to go to the kitchen. The lazy boy stared after his mother with a hard expression as if he didn't know whether to show his displeasure or say nothing at all but, in the end, he settled for sighing and rubbed the back of his neck instead. _'Teh, troublesome. Why do I always get stuck with him?'_ He quickly dismissed his annoyance, placing a hand on the child's shoulder and shook lightly.

"Hey. Wake up, wake up. It's time to eat. Get up, kid."

It took a couple of minutes before his eyes fluttered open for a second then closed, the light becoming too bright but opened them again, eyes still glazed over with drowsiness. Yawning in a adorable fashion, Ruka slowly sat up then focused his eyes on Shikamaru, who stood in front of him with a bored look, then jumped with a small squawk.

"S-Shika-kun!"

Said owner of name sighed. "Let's go eat. Even if you're not hungry, I sure am. Come on."

Ruka quickly nodded with a blush, staring at the ground as he hopped off the couch and followed him to the dining room where his kind mother waited with dinner.

The food was pretty good and he couldn't help but wonder if it was even better when it was first cooked. The child shrugged and paused in his eating to take a rather large sip for a little guy from his glass of warm milk before resuming. Shikamaru glanced up from his rice bowl again to see his guest eating the yakisoba with less enthusiaism, sometimes picking at the vegetables with a somewhat straight face as if he was thinking before he caught him staring, squeaked, then shoved whatever food the chopsticks grabbed in his tiny mouth with a pink blush. He found it a little amusing when Ruka made a face when the thing he shoved in his mouth was a veggie but didn't have the energy to even chuckle and continued eating his dinner.

Once done, they took their dishes to the sink to wash and put away before walking to Shikamaru's bedroom. The silence between them was loud...maybe a little _too_ loud that it was becoming quite awkward, even for the older boy. The brunette took a seat at the edge of the bed while Shikamaru went into his drawers to find some clothes to wear.

Ruka sighed sadly and stared at the floor with a depressed look. Then gasped quietly when he felt more tears trying to escape. _'Oh no! Not again! I must look like such a crybaby!'_ Little hands rubbed his eyes furiously in attempt to stop it but they were just replaced them with more tears. _'Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry!'_

He watched the boy from the corner of his eye for a few moments then sighed, rubbing his temple.

That kid is such a pain sometimes.

Ruka blinked when something was thrown over his head. Yanking it off, he noticed that it was just some clothes and lifted his eyes to see Shikamaru standing in front of him, his own clothing slung over his shoulder and his left hand on his hip with a bored look.

"You can wear those for now. Sorry they're a little big but those are the smallest I could find." He smirked slightly.

The boy was offended. "Not! THAT! Small!"

The twelve-year-old stuck a pinky in his ear.

"Teh, so loud this late of night." He grumbled and crossed his arms. "Hey, it was troublesome finding clothes your size so be glad I found those for you. Anyway, what do you want to do?"

"Eh?"

"I mean, do you want to take a bath first or I go first?"

Ruka blinked then, with a thoughtful expression on his face, crossed his arms and lifted a hand to tap his chin for a few long moments. But it didn't take long for him to make up his mind. "Nah. How about...in...together?" He asked innocently.

Blank stare. "...No."

"Aww! Why not?!"

"No way!"

_"Doshite?!"_

"I said no!"

Whimper. _"Do...Doshite?"_

_'Aw crap!'_ The genin sweated under the student's puppy-dog eyes, trying to resist its unnatural submission. Furiously shaking his head, he tried to stare the boy down but failed rather miserably.

"When I say no, I MEAN no! There's no way you're going to change my mind!"

_(NEXT SCENE)_

"Teh, so troublesome."

Sighing heavily, Shikamaru tilted his head back to rest against the edge of the tub, which made the cloth on his head slip slightly then glanced over to the other side where the splashing was coming from. Ruka seemed to be enjoying himself as he played with the bubbles in the water, a cloth on his own head as well.

He couldn't help but set his gaze on the boy's hands, which made a oddly shaped circle with his fingers and blew soap bubbles before giggling and dipping his hand in and out of the water, repeating the process over again. _'I can't believe I let him bait me like that. What a drag!'_ The shadow user leaned forward and rested his head in his arms on the side of the tub. He closed his eyes and sat there in silence, dozing off a bit.

**SPLASH!**

Shikamaru snapped his eyes open and glared to the side as the brunette rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish grin.

"You know, looking innocent isn't always going to save you." He said but Ruka just grinned.

"Heh heh! Sorry!" He giggled then busied himself by looking for the washcloth under the soapy water.

With a soft chuckle and shake of the head, Shikamaru reached in the water and grabbed said cloth while Ruka gave a frustrated noise and throw his arms up in the air when he couldn't find the washcloth. "Looking for this?" The boy spun around, oblivious to the water spilling on the floor to see his host holding the item of his "quest" down under. "Gimme! Gimme! Please!" Ruka struggled to take the cloth but the genin held it just out of his reach. He simply shook his head with a lazy smirk. "Nope."

The youngest of the two boys pouted for a minute then turned his back to him, miffed at not getting back the object he needed to finish his bath. Shikamaru knew he probably upsetted him but settled to sighing and shrugging it off like nothing before dropping cloth to start scrubbing the dirt out of his hair.

He only began to wash before jumping when he felt smaller hands on his scalp and spun around, only to see Ruka grinning with a small blush. "Need? Hand?" The eleven-year-old suggested helpfully. He stared at him for a few long moments as if trying to decide whether to decline or accept the offer then facing forward again and shrugged, trying to hide the coloring of his cheeks.

"Do what you want. It gives me one less troublesome thing to do." He muttered.

Ruka couldn't help but grin.

It was a good thing they put their clothes on the counter instead of the floor because the minute they set their feet down, they slipped and slide across the tiles with minor difficulties. But, never less, they managed to dry and dress themselves before heading to the bedroom to sleep.

Ruka took one more glance at his night clothes, finding some of his old clothes he had on were the same ones that Shikamaru wore when he was still in the Ninja Academy. He smiled for a second then it disappeared when he remembered what happened earlier today. Maybe he was still mad about his little crying session earlier, he wasn't sure but all he knew that the comfortable atmosphere vanished.

While he pondered this, Shikamaru didn't bother to put up his hair in a ponytail as he grabbed an extra pillow from the closet for his guest to sleep on the bed before noticing his sadden expression. Sighing, he tossed the pillow on the bed and sat next to the boy then leaned back a little with his hands supporting behind him, lazy narrowed eyes watching the smaller and younger boy for any signs if he noticed. It only took a few seconds for Ruka to sense him before turning around to come nearly face-to-face with the genin.

With a sharp squeak, he stared back for a few moments before shifting his eyes downwards to the side as his face burned an angry red, biting his bottom lip nervously. A curious brow raised up as he briefly wondered what the matter was. _'Is he okay? He looks like he has a fever. But he looked just fine a minute ago! ...Teh, so troublesome.'_ He rubbed the back of his neck with a annoyed grumble.

Shikamaru wasn't the only one in his thoughts.

_'He...He's so close! Why is he staring at me like that?! This is so embarrassing!'_ Ruka glanced up then quickly looked down before shifting to lay on his side on his half of the bed, still blushing. The shadow user watched him for a moment then leaned over on his arm and reached out to shake his shoulder a bit.

"Hey. What's wrong? You feel sick?"

Ruka shook his head, refusing to look at him.

"Then why won't you look at me?"

Mumble. "Hm? Speak up."

"...You...still. Mad?"

Blinking away his surprise, Shikamaru reeled his head back a bit to give him a odd look as if he wasn't sure he understood. "Why would I be mad?" He asked, brow raised. He blinked again when Ruka sat up enough to pull and bury himself under the warm blankets. A whimper emerged from blankets. "Crying." The lazy boy stared for a moment then made a sound like he now understood. "Ah, I see. No, I'm not mad. I wasn't mad, more like...annoyed." Another whimper. "Hey, hey! I'm not mad! Geez! And come out from under there already!" He grabbed the blanket and pulled but Ruka held fast and pulled, too.

"Let...go...! You need...to come...out...of there...NOOOOOW!!

"No! No, no, no, no, no, no, NO!"

After a six-minute session of a tug of war, Ruka pouted unhappily on his side on the bed upon losing, back turned to his host, who sighed and tried to get his attention but he just continued pouting. Shikamaru yawned, vaguely realizing that it was very late and they needed to go to bed if they wanted to wake up early to find his dad. _'This is getting us nowhere.'_ He tried to think of anything that could help him get Ruka to cooperate and behave so they could go to sleep as he tucked himself in after smoothing it out over the bed.

_**He isn't going to understand if you keep telling him to stop crying. He needs to know that you're just trying to help. If you don't, your relationship with him will surely not end too well.**_

The shadow user made a face upon remembrance of his father's words. _'...I can't believe its come to this but...what else can I do? Well, here goes nothing. Teh, troublesome.'_

The brunette puffed his cheeks and glared cutely at the wall before he felt a hand on his side. He knew it was Shikamaru but he wasn't shaking him like always and if he was, it wouldn't be on his waist, just letting it sit there until curiosity got the best of him as he turned his body enough to look at him. He gasped when he saw the older boy laying on his side next to him, propping his right elbow under his head with a lazy smile, though it wasn't much of a smile, more like a half smile but it was still a smile none the less. Blushing, Ruka fixed his body so he was facing him on his opposite side and pushed the upper half of his body up on his hands, still feeling his hand on his side, which made him blush even more when he thought about it.

The hand lifted up from his waist and gently touched the strands of damp hair that cascaded down his face, making the small boy flinch and the blush grew darker, nervously biting his bottom lip. Shikamaru chuckled lightly then lifted his head up to stare back into those cute, wide brown eyes of his, seeing his own reflection in those brown pools.

"Smile."

"Ehh??"

Ruka stared him down with a confused expression, forgetting that Shikamaru was touching his hair but he didn't mind.

He nodded once. "Yeah. Smile."

"Mmm...I-I dunno. You. Mad when...I cry. Not. Mad. When...smile?" Ruka hesitated, forcing himself to look away. He couldn't handle watching him staring at him like that as if he was transfixed, it was just too nerve-racking and embarrassing. He gasped when the same hand gently grasped his chin and turn back to face him instead of avoiding him. The lazy boy shook his head. "No. I won't be mad. Just smile, okay?" He asked softly.

"Err..." Ruka still wasn't convinced.

He thought for a minute before smiling again. "Smile...for me?"

The student blinked then, after a slight bit of hesitance, offered a small timid smile that was just too cute to belong to someone like him. Before he could stop himself, Shikamaru pulled himself up enough to press his forehead against the other's, half smiling as Ruka blushed even more, smile gone and hair tickling their cheeks. "See? You look cuter smiling like that." He said.

His face went completely red, practically puffing out steam from his ears while Shikamaru was not far behind, looking like he just realized what he just said.

_'D-Did I just...say that? Crap.'_ Shikamaru turned away a little in attempt to hide the faint tint on his cheeks.

But Ruka, who recovered from the shock, smiled more gently at the embarrassed genin before digging himself under the blankets like his host, who turned back to stare at him like he was some new kind of life form or something. Once comfortable, he poked his head out enough for the blanket to go down his shoulder a little. Smiling sleepily, he tucked his head under the lazy boy's chin and closed his eyes with a content sigh. But Shikamaru jumped and started sputtering with a dark blush. "H-Hey! What are you-"

_"Mmm...Oyasuminasai, Shika-kun."_ He breathed out as he fell into a deep sleep.

He froze for a second, just staring at the small child in his arms with an almost dumbfounded expression on his face before shaking his head and smiled lightly. Relaxing himself on his pillow while making sure not to disturb the boy, he watched the slumbering child through half-lidded eyes before yawning and slowly closed his eyes for a sleep that would soon come. But before he did, he whispered into the darkness.

_"Oyasuminasai."_

_(NEXT SCENE)_

_The very next day..._

With a jaw-cracking yawn, Shikamaru stared lazily at Ruka's back before complaining. "Hey, you sure you don't remember your way back home?" He asked.

The brunette nodded, looking distressed as they've been walking and searching for his way home since this morning, which was three hours or so ago. "Y-Yeah! But...some reason, forget. Where. He always...find me. When. Forget." He mumbled out loud, looking around nervously.

He was getting worried if they would ever find Kakashi. Maybe he would know if he just told him the name of his guardian. After all, he is a jounin like Asuma so it shouldn't be that hard.

"...Um, Shika-kun...?"

Said genin turned around to look at him from his cloud watching. "Yeah?" Ruka appeared unsure and timid for a moment before speaking up. "U-Um...know...? Kakashi-sensei...?" He asked. The shadow user blinked, not sure what this had anything to do with the search. He sighed and looked to the side as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah. He's Team Seven's jounin sensei but I don't really know him that well. Why are you asking me this?" Shikamaru glanced over to see Ruka figgeting from one foot to the other.

_'...Hm?'_

"...Do Asuma-sensei. Know. Where. Kakashi-sensei lives?" He asked.

"Uh, I guess but I don't know for sure. And don't ignore my question. What does this have to do with him?"

The brown-haired student smiled sheepishly and threw an arm behind, rubbing the back of his head.

"Eh heh heh, forgot. Mention. Kakashi-sensei. My mentor." Ruka grinned.

...What

...The

...Hell?

"Wait a minute. You mean to say your mentor is Kakashi-sensei?" Shikamaru glowered.

Nod, nod, nod.

"THE Kakashi-sensei, who is famous for his reputation of a thousand jutsus?"

Nod, nod, nod.

"The very same one who trains Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura?"

Nod, nod, nod.

"And yet, you somehow _forgot_ to mention this to me?"

No...blink. Sheepish shrug.

He groaned loudly in exasperation, wondering how could he forget something like this. If he had just told him sooner, he could've gone home yesterday instead of spending the night over at his house while he thought up ways to track down his father. "Teh, so troublesome. Why didn't you mention this yesterday? We could've found your father much faster that way if Kakashi-sensei knows where you live." Shikamaru scolded.

Ruka drooped his head, which made him look even younger than his age, making him feel like he shouldn't have done that but he knew better than to give in. He needed to know where he was wrong and stomp that mistake flat and dead so it will never be repeated again. "C-Cause...Kakashi-sensei is. Private." He protested quietly, glancing up to see if he was still mad.

He blinked then looked up, thoughtful. _'He does have a point. I don't think I ever heard Asuma-sensei talk about him much besides Kurenai-sensei.'_

The shadow user sighed heavily and rubbed the back of his neck, muttering, "Troublesome," under his breath before returning his attention back on the student. "All right, I agree with you about the jounin being a private person but you could've still told me. Who knows, we might get lucky if we ask anyone who knows him!" He smiled in encouragement. The brunette, despite the tears getting ready to fall, smiled up at him and nodded enthusiastically.

"Good. Come on. He might be with Naruto and the others already. If not, we'll try the mission office, okay?"

"Uh-huh!" Ruka chirped.

Shikamaru smirked a little and shook his head at how easy it was to please someone like him. If he wasn't as intelligent as he was, he would've mistaken him as a picture of innocence. Something about the boy just made anyone he met want to protect him from the world but he knew one way or another that his innocence will be gone once he becomes a genin.

He frowned and glared at the ground under his feet as if it was its fault.

No matter how much he tried to convince himself, he didn't want his innocence to be stripped from him like that. But he can't do anything about that, it was his choice to become a ninja.

_"Shika-kun? Daijobu ka?"_

He blinked and looked to the side to see wide concern eyes staring back at him. He realized they had been walking for a while because if he looked around, he see that they were in the forest. "Huh? Uh, yeah, sure. Come on. We're almost there." He walked on with a nervous student following after. When they crossed the bridge and entered the training area where Team Seven's meeting point is, no one was even there so they ended up standing in the middle, scanning around for any presense of the man they were searching for. Ruka stared hard at the pebble at his feet then kicked it into the stream, only to yelp when he kicked too hard and fell on his butt.

_"Ouchie! Stupid pebble! Making me fall on my butt! I'm pretty sure if it had a mouth, it'll be laughing its ass off then curse me 'cause it remember how I kicked it but then forget about it 'cause it got its revenge when I fell and then it'll-"_ Ruka grumbled as he got back on his feet, dusting himself off with an disgruntled look.

Shikamaru found it too cute but was too lazy to say it out loud where the brunette could hear him. He cleared his throat, which gained his attention.

"Guess they're not here. What a drag. Come on, let's check out the mission office." Shikamaru turned and walked away.

The small child quickly followed and walked in pace with him but his heart felt uneasy and nervous upon finding nothing at the meeting point. It scared him to think he couldn't find his mentor. It scared him greatly. He knew the genin was glancing over to him when he latched onto his right arm, nervousness in his eyes and body before he turned to staring straight ahead once more. He knew he shouldn't be nervous but he couldn't help it.

_'What if something happened? Are they away on a mission? But Kakashi-sensei wouldn't leave me out here with no way to get back home...would he?'_

The more he thought about it, the more Ruka felt sick to the stomach.

Soon they saw the Hokage Tower and entered through the doors, going straight for the mission office, which wasn't very far. Within a couple of minutes, they pushed through another pair of doors to see several people in the mission office, either talking, working, returning a mission report, or taking on another mission. There weren't many so Ruka was able to easily spot his idol chatting with Izumo about something, probably village gossip or something. He then rushed over in a instant before Shikamaru could have time to stop him, not caring if he ended up tackling Iruka over the table and onto the floor, taking the chair down with them.

"AH! Ruka-kun!"

_"IRUKA-SENSEI!!"_ Ruka wailed loudly.

The chuunin quickly sat up, stunned to see his tiny student began blubbering in a language he or, for that matter, anyone couldn't decipher but became alert when he spotted tears rolling down his cheeks. "Ru-Ruka-kun! What happened? What's wrong?!" He demanded, sitting up while taking the sobbing child with him in his arms. The preoccupied adult looked up when Shikamaru made his presense known with a slightly exasperate expression on his face. "Ah, Ruka! You're not supposed to do that! Teh, troublesome." He bowed to the chuunin.

"Sorry about this, Iruka-sensei."

"No, this is fine! But what happened? Is he okay?" He asked worriedly.

"Um, yes and no. I found...I mean, HE found ME because he mistakened me for you and he's been with me since yesterday. Apparently, he doesn't know how to get back home so we're looking for Kakashi-sensei." The shadow user explained as simple as possible.

_"WAAAAAAAAAHH!!"_

"WHAT?!"

He stuck a pinky in his ear. "Man, what a drag."

"Did you try asking around?"

Bemused, Shikamaru said, "What did you think we were doing?"

Choosing to ignore that smart remark instead of scowling him, Iruka slowly stood up with the small child still in his arms and walked away with the genin following at his heels, waving and apologizing to the people in the room for the sudden disruption until they were outside the Tower. By the time they were outside, Ruka had managed to calm down but he was still sniffling and choking back sobs, hiccuping every now and then. The chuunin gently set him on the ground on his feet and kneeled down so he was eye-leveled with him.

"Okay now. What happened?" Iruka asked softly.

"...C-C-(hic)-Can't...f-find...! Ba-Back (hic)...home! Or! K-K-Kakashi-sensei!!" He wailed.

"Hey, hey, hey! Calm down! Shhh, don't cry, Ruka-kun." He cupped the boy's face with his hands and gently wiped away the forming tears from his doe-like eyes with his thumbs. Ruka sniffed a little and grabbed the hands on his face then nodded, trying to breath without shaking. The lazy genin sighed and kneaded his left shoulder with his right hand, trying to ease the stiffness he felt. "Anyway, we were hoping that he might have been at the mission office. That's why we came but I guess he's not there either." He muttered. "Well, he was here earlier. He asked me if I saw Ruka, I'd let him know." Iruka informed.

This caught the small boy's attention right away. Next thing he knew, Ruka was in his face.

"Where? Where Kakashi-sensei?! Tell me! Please!" The brown-haired boy demanded, looking desperate.

"H-Hey! Slow down! He just went on a few missions with his team!" The chuunin tried to calm him down but he just kept asking. "Where? Please, tell me! Where?!" He continued, oblivious to the weird stares they were receiving for his obnoxious yelling.

"Uuh, if I recall, they were first sent to pull out weeds from Ms. Saito's yard because she threw out her back and is unable to do it herself. Then they're cleaning out the-"

The boy didn't hear the rest as he took off down the street in search of his mentor to wherever this Ms. Saito's home is. "Ah! Ruka-kun! Get back here!" Iruka shouted over but he was too far away to hear. The genin sighed and rubbed the back on his head. "Teh, so troublesome." He mumbled.

Then he turned to his former sensei. "Hey."

"Hm?"

"Can you tell me where I might find Kakashi-sensei?"

"Oh, um, sure!"

_(NEXT SCENE)_

_'Okay! I just gotta find Ms. Saito's house and I'll find Kakashi-sensei! Oooh man! He must be really mad at me for not coming home yesterday! I just hope he's not too mad!'_ Ruka panicked at the thought of an angry jounin, which was a very scary image.

A thought hit him, which stopped him dead in his tracks, making skid marks in the dirt.

_"Ahh CRAP! I forgot that I had school today! Iruka-sensei's gonna be so-ACK! Wait a minute! The Academy should be already done for today! And I just met him, too! Ahhh man! This is so not cool!"_

The villager nearby side-stepped away when the brunette started shouting nonsense while flailing his fists in the air. Another thought hit him...again.

_"Oh my god! I also have training today! Oooo, Hayate-sensei's gonna be SO mad when I show up! Grrr! And that pervert's gonna tease me for being really late! Grrr, and if he dares even call me Ru-Ru, I'm gonna sock him a good one and make sure I kick him in the nuts so he'll be talking in a squeaky voice for a few days and then I'll-"_

All the while he was mumbling and cackling to himself about his future plans for Sousuke, a girl with blue hair and eyes noticed "her" standing in the middle of the street, obviously mad about something. She was just walking around, trying to find the team she was going to join soon to get to know what they're like but seeing a cute little brunette like her there, she couldn't help but wonder if she was lost. Materinal instinct took over as she walked towards the boy, who didn't notice her in the least, too busy planning and panicking at the same time.

"Hey there, little girl. Are you lost?" She asked, bending over so her hands were on her knees.

_"...his eyes out so he can't see when I run off before he can kill me and then I'll-huh?"_ He blinked, looking up.

The blue-haired genin repeated herself. "Are you lost?"

"Uh...um, yeah?"

She pulled herself back in a up-right position and smiled down on him, which, for reason unknown to her, made the boy become very alert and wary of her. _'What's the matter with her? Hmph. Probably shy.'_

"Come on. Let's find your mom and dad, okay?" She smiled, trying to reassure the "girl".

He shook his head and she blinked. "No. Looking for...Ms. Saito. You. Know. Where?"

Now she was confused. _'What's with her? A speech problem?'_

"Uh, sure? Is she your grandmother?" She drawled slowly, not sure what to make of this kid. Ruka just shook his head, blinking innocently but she wasn't easily swayed...okay, maybe a little. _'Wait a minute. Ms. Saito doesn't have any grandchildren...all least, not that I know of.'_ Narrowing her icy blue eyes, she stared the brunette down but before she could voice her suspicions, he spoke up.

"Mission duty." He explained without explaining.

"Ah." She nodded, understanding.

Silence...

...Well, the silence was eventually shattered when our favorite and number one lazy coward, who strolled down the street, waving a piece of paper in his hand a little with a hard edge to his face.

"You're such a pain. If you waited just a few more minutes, Iruka-sensei would've given you the instructions of where the missions are being taken place. Teh, you're so troublesome." Shikamaru tsked and Ruka gave a sheepish grin.

"Eh heh heh heh...sorry, Shika-kun."

"Uh, hello? I'm still here, you know!"

At the same time, the boys spun their heads around to the unamused blue-eyed girl as if they just noticed her.

The genin blinked. "Huh? Who's this troublesome girl?"

"Um...someone...thinks I a girl."

Raising a brow, the older male turned to face the stranger with a calculating look as if he was trying decide whether she's friendly or not before sighing and rubbing the back of his neck. "All right, let's get something straight here. _She_..." He yanked the bewildered brunette's wrist so he stood beside him, blinking every two to five seconds while Shikamaru held his captured limp up in the air. "...is a boy."

...It took three seconds for it to click.

"O-Oh! I'm sorry! I-I thought sh-I mean, _he_ was a girl because he just looked so innocent and cute and, um...!" She stopped ranting, face red with embarrassment.

She wasn't the only one red.

Though he didn't understand with her talking so fast, Ruka got the "innocent" and "cute" part, which made him tense with a furious red blush. He didn't want another fan girl to be born and chase him like all the other girls as if he was some sort of fishing bait that all the fish find so tasty. It was enough of a hassle already!

"Now that we've gotten that troublesome problem straightened out, could you tell us what you're name is?" He demanded lazily.

The girl nodded before throwing her hair back. "I'm Nanami Yamada. I just gradutated from the Academy two days ago. You?"

"Shikamaru Nara."

The small boy opened his mouth to introduce himself but he cut him off.

"And this troublesome little guy is Ruka. But don't pay too much attention to him, he's a sucker for it."

An elbow drove into his side quite unexpectedly. "OW! What the hell! What did you do that for?!" Shikamaru complained.

He huffed, looking adorable while he's at it. "Meanie! No Help! Stupid Shika-kun!"

The blue-haired girl, known as Nanami, just stared dumbfounded while the two bickered...well, more like scolding and yelling. _'What are these guys? They look like more of a couple of idiots with the way they keep bickering. And why did he call him Shika-kun?'_ As she thought this, a smile appeared on her lips before crossing her arms and put most of her weight on her right leg, leaning a bit.

"Well, I guess you're the little guy Hokage-sama was talking about!"

This got their attention, both giving her weird looks that didn't quite understand what she was saying. Then Ruka spoke up. "Um...what you mean?" Nanami blinked, understand what he was saying but _how_ he said it while Shikamaru groaned at his mispronoucation again. "You _really_ need to learn how to speak proper Japanese. Teh, so troublesome."

Despite another hit to his side, he turned to the stranger once more.

"All right, explain what you're here for. Its obvious it has something to do with this runt here."

"HEY!"

Nanami nodded and smiled more widely. "Yeah, as I said before, I've just recently became a genin so the Third Hokage had to choose a fitting team for me to join. Unfortunately, there weren't many teams that have a vacant spot and no more genins to form another team so..."

She grinned widely before grabbing and pulled, again, an even more bewildered Ruka to her and hugged the life out of him.

"...I've been choosen to be part of Team Hayate! Isn't that great?"

His normally narrowed eyes widen while Ruka just stiffened in her hold, his hair sticking up like a cat again with a dark blush rising to his cheeks. _'Ca...Ca-Can't...breathe! No...more...hugging!'_ His face turned red then blue.

The older boy then tried to rescue him. "Uuh...you _do_ know you're choking him half to death, right?"

"Oh...opps?"

Once she released her tight hold on him, Ruka immediately seeked salvation, which was to latch onto Shikamaru like yesterday. "Oof!" He stumbled back a bit then quickly regained his balance, giving an annoyed look down at the hundled form clinging to him. "Ugh! Troublesome!" The lazy genin grumbled, scratching the back of his head. "Um, is he going to be okay? I didn't hurt him, did I?" Nanami asked, a bit hurt. He shook his head and pocketed his hands.

"Nah. He's just scared."

"No wanna! Fan girl! Shika-kun!" Ruka wailed loudly.

"Hey, hey, hey! Stop crying! We still need to find Kakashi-sensei, remember?"

He blinked as if he just remembered that little fact. "Oh...oh yeah!" The boy grinned.

He rolled his eyes at the student and turned away from the blue-haired girl. "All right then, see you later." The shadow user simply waved as he began to walk away but she jogged after them. "Wait! I'll come with you!"

_(NEXT SCENE)_

"All right, guys. We better go home. We're done for today." Kakashi eye smiled at his tired team, who gave him glares as if this was his fault.

Well, you'd be glaring, too, if you had to hunt down the same escaped cat who constantly run aways, pull weeds and thorns from a jungle of a backyard, clean the trash up from the stream without falling and going down a waterfall, clean both the messager birds and their nests without getting pecked, clawed, or lose a finger, and give three rather large dogs a walk (or more like run away while they try to bite you with their sensei up in a tree, either reading or giggling at the hilarity of it all)...not in that order.

"We better!" Naruto grumbled. Sakura fussed over her now messy hair and if looks could kill, that's what Sasuke would be doing right now.

"Oh yeah! Kakashi-sensei!" He looked over his shoulder before he could left to see his female student staring back.

"Have you seen Ruka-kun? He said he'll teach me to sing some of the nursery songs like the one he taught me back in the Wave Country." She asked.

Even though they found him to be a hard person to read, they could tell there was something wrong when he had this little sad tint in his eye. "Well...I don't really know where he is. I've been looking for him since yesterday last night." He mumbled to himself but they overheard.

"WHAT?!"

"Ehh? What, what? What did he say?" The blonde demanded.

"Ruka-kun's missing!"

He blinked. "Eh? That's it? Can't he just find his way back?"

"If you were paying attention, you would have noticed I said he's been missing since yesterday." The jounin pointed out.

"Hn, its his own fault for not finding his way back. Idiot." Sasuke scoffed.

His teammate bristled. "Hey! Stop calling him an idiot! You're the idiot!"

"Hn, you're an even bigger idiot than him."

"What Did You Say, Basterd?!"

Kakashi then decided it was best to settle them down before things got out of hand. "Hey, hey! Calm down, its nothing to worry about! I'm sure Ruka's just running away from his fan girls. I wouldn't be surprised if he's with Iruka-sensei!" He tried to assure them, which worked. "Oh." Sakura blushed and rubbed the back of her head, feeling embarrassed for causing such a fuss. _'Phew! At least Sakura isn't crying or freaking out about it. But dammit! Where the hell is he?!'_ He sighed.

"Then can we help you look for him?" She asked.

"Um, no. I can handle it. I asked Iruka-sensei if he ever saw-"

"Kakashi-sensei!"

"-Kakashi-sensei and keep him there until I get back to the mission office. ...Wait a minute."

He turned around and almost gasped when he saw Ruka running over with Shikamaru and a blue-haired girl jogging behind. "KAKASHI-SENSEI!!" The brunette tackled his legs with the strength a child could possess, crying and babbling god knows what for which he couldn't understand. Right now, he wasn't paying attention to that, he was paying more attention to where he dug his face on. His face, or what's visible of it, turned bright red then greyish-blue as he watched the small boy cry against him while Nanami looked horrified and Shikamaru groaned before slapping his forehead. He was very glad his team couldn't see for they were behind him but he knew they could see his trembling form.

"Uuuh...there you are, um...Ruka!" He mumbled, inwardly groaning.

After a minute or two, Ruka pulled away to wipe his teary eyes with the back of his hands before looking up.

"Ka...Kakashi...-sensei...?"

The jounin sighed tiredly, almost painfully. "Wh-What?"

"Kunai...p-poking. My face. Feel. Weird." He mumbled, sniffling a little.

Next thing he knew, he ended up falling back on the ground, kicking his feet up while he's at it as the student shrieked in surprise. His team weren't far behind as two out of three ran over to see if he was okay while the other looked on, mildly curious while Ruka tried to shake some sense into the man. All the while, Nanami and Shikamaru stood away from the group in silence before the girl spoke up.

"...Ouch. That gotta hurt."

"Yeah. Teh, so troublesome."

--(END SCENE)--

Yakisoba (Yakisoba are fried or deep fried Chinese style noodles served with vegetables, meat, and ginger)

Itai (ow; ouch)

Doshite (why; how)

Oyasuminasai (Good night!)

Daijobu ka (are you okay/all right?)

Sugoi (1. amazing; wonderful 2. awful; terrifying)

Nanami (means seven seas (name form)

CF: Phew! Sorry it took so long! I had trouble around the ending part.

Ruka: (teary-eyed) D-Done? Already?

CF: Huh? (blink) No! I meant the 7th chappy is done, not the story!

Ruka: - YAY!

Kakashi: (still on ground, in pain) Oowwww...

Iruka: What happened to him?

CF: (shrug) Hn, Ruka-kun hit him in the nuts with that big head of his.

Iruka: Ouch!

Ruka: PLEASE REVIEW!! LOVE YOU!! (smile that melts the hearts of cold-blooded killers)


	8. Flowers

Mission 8 - "Flowers."

"All right, guys! You can (cough) go home early today!" Hayate called over.

Moving away from their trees they were practicing on, they walked over to their sensei with tired and annoyed looks. Sousuke didn't seem to mind the excuse to leave but it wasn't the same with his younger teammates.

"Aww! I thought we were going to learn something new!" Nanami complained.

The older teen smirked and leaned towards her. "Well, I can teach you. I'm sure you'll-OMPH!"

Pulling her elbow from digging in Sousuke's side, she glared at the hissing man next to her while the brunette giggled behind the team. "No way, mister. I'm not that easy, unlike most girls in this village. Go find someone else to hit on." She snorted

"Ow! You little...!" He mumbled under his breath, rubbing his sore side.

"Hee hee hee! Fun! Fun!" Ruka chirped.

Unfortunately for him, Sousuke took that as his cue, smirking slightly and leaned more towards the youngest, earning a deep frown from the blue-haired girl. "Well, how about we head back to my place and we'll have more fun, eh?" He purred huskily, making the boy blush and turn his head away. "U-Um...n-no thank you." He mumbled quietly.

"Ah, come on! I'm not going to bite...much."

A foot stomped down on his own foot, yelping and jumping around on one leg, cursing and seething at the blue-haired girl, who glared back and put her hands on her hips while the doe-eyed boy stared with wide, surprised eyes. "OWW! Shit, man! That hurt, stupid girl!" He hissed, rubbing his throbbing foot before putting it down. "Stop hitting on him! He's only eleven years old! He's too young to date a pervert like you!" She scowled.

"And you deserved it!" She added with a huff, feeling victorious.

Pulling out a pack, he took a cigarette from it before putting it in his back pocket then pulled out a lighter, which he took a few puffs before stashing it away as well. His dark eyes observed the only female in their group for a minute then snorted, practically sticking his nose up in the air before bringing a hand to his lips, gently grasping his cig between the first two fingers.

"You're not even _that_ good looking, anyway. Even Ru-Ru here looks gorgeous compared to you." Sousuke retorted, which Ruka gave a small squeak and a dark blush.

Her icy blue eyes widen at the hurtful remark before glaring heatedly at him. The small boy blinked before his big brown eyes darted back and forth between his teammates, hoping this won't end up with him being the rope in a game of tug-of-war for either to hook up with him or get him to safety from the other. Huffing, she quickly turned her back on him with a cross of her arms, though she practically felt his smirk on her back. "Whatever. I have more important things to do besides dating perverts like you." Nanami shot back over her shoulder.

The blue-haired girl went back to one of the three trees where her dummy was pinned with a few kunais and shurikens stuck on various places and on the tree to gather her weapons so she could go home.

In the back, she could hear the boys arguing, mostly about Sousuke's behavior towards her. She shook her head, trying to ignore the bickering as she stashed away the last two kunais away in the weapon bag.

"Stupid Sousuke! Apologize! Now!"

"Why should I?! She's the one who stepped on my foot on purpose!"

"You! Being! Pervert! Apologize!"

"Hey! A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do! It's natural!"

Ruka crossed his arms with a frown, turning his head back and whispered to no one. "With. You. Is? It? Natural?" The seventeen-year-old might have not understood what he said but knew when he was being insulted.

"Hey! I heard that! And who are you even talking to?"

"The air!" The brunette grinned.

Hayate, who had been watching his unoffical team for the past eight minutes, coughed into his hand and turned away from the scene, sighing. _'What did Hokage-sama ever see in them is beyond me! I'm not cut out for this.'_ He began to walk away from their training area, which his students followed while arguing.

But Ruka stopped arguing when he spotted something yellow and orange in the corner of his eye before smiling widely. "Flowers! Flowers!" He ran over to where said flowers grew while his teammates watched him in either amusement or irritation. "Heh heh, its weird how a boy can be so fascinated with flowers. They usually hate girly stuff." Nanami smiled. "Sunflower!" He chirped, picking one and twirling it in his hand. "No. It's a daisy, not a sunflower. There's a difference!" The Sasuke look-a-like corrected.

Blink. "...Daff...o...dil?"

"No. Dai - sy. Daisy."

"Dan...delion?"

"Dai - sy!"

"Daffo...dil."

"Ugh, NO! It's DAI - SY!"

"...Daisy?"

"Yes, you got it right! Finally!" Sousuke cheered sarcastically. The only girl in their team glared at him for that but Ruka was too busy picking several more daisies to hear him. "Stop it! He's just learning! Don't belittle him!" She hissed hotly. "What? It's not my fault he's so-"

_"YYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"_

They blinked when their current subject of conversation ran by between them, the flowers tightly clutched in his left hand as he ran, screaming his head off. Nanami leaned over to see where their teammate was heading with a concerned in her eyes while Sousuke just took the almost diminish cigarette in his fingers, furrowing his brows in confusion. "What the-?!"

Before they could expect it, there were loud buzzing sounds all around them and then the next thing they knew, they were stung like crazy.

"AAH! OW, CRAP! OUCH! OW, OW, OW! OUCH! SONAVABITCH!!"

"OW, OW, OUCH! RUN!!"

Both quickly followed Ruka's example, trying to escape the angry bees swarming them while Hayate just stood there, watching them get stung yet, the bees didn't go after him. "Hmmmm...well, (cough, cough) that's something you (cough) don't see every day."

_(NEXT SCENE)_

_"AAHHHHH!! Please Stop Chasing MMEEEEEEEEE!!"_ Ruka wailed, tears streaming.

He had been running around the streets and rooftops, trying to lose the angry bees but they stayed just behind him, buzzing loudly. He didn't mean to step on their home, it was practically buried under all those pretty flowers. How was he supposed to know a bee hive was there? Now his left foot was sticky with honey and a few unfortunate bees, the flowers were dying from all his running and clenching in his hand, and was being chased by a huge pack of bees!

How could things possibly get worse?!

Yawning loudly with a hand over his mouth, Shikamaru watched the clouds go by in the blue sky from his position on the forest ground, arms behind his head and leg tossed over his opposite knee. _'Man, the clouds are so free. It must be nice not having to deal with troublesome missions among other things.'_ He thought, staring dully. He saw a plain yellow butterfly fly in a circle then across his face before going to wherever it wanted to go with his narrowed eyes watching the whole time.

The butterfly reminded him of the brunette he had to take care of almost two weeks ago, which made him grumble and shake his head as if trying to get rid of the mental image of him.

_'Teh, troublesome kid. Wonder what's he's doing right now? Probably running around, getting into trouble.'_ He closed his eyes with a sigh.

He didn't know how right he was.

The genin managed to doze off for at least over ten minutes before his ears picked up a steadily growing shriek from behind his resting spot. Groaning at the lost of peace and quiet, Shikamaru pushed himself up with his elbows into a sitting position before twisting himself around to look where the disturbance came from. At first, he didn't see anything but after a few seconds, he saw what looked like a person running down the path.

His eyes widen when he realized that the person was Ruka, who wasn't running for the heck of it. He was running AWAY from some very pissed off bees.

"Oh crap!" The lazy genin was immediately on the balls of his feet, ready to take off.

_"Get Away From Me! I'm Sorry! Just Lemme Alone! I Promise I Won't Step On Your Home Again! Someone, HELP MEEEE!!"_

It was then he noticed that the older boy was squatting on the ground several yards away so he instinctively ran to him, which made him quickly jumped up and run away. "Shika-kun! Help!!" Ruka wailed, trying to ward off the bugs. "I Would If You Stop Chasing Me!!" He yelled over his shoulder. The brunette yelped when he felt a bee sting on the back of his neck before running faster, slapping a hand over the place where he was stung. Glancing back, he saw that the bees were getting closer, which was gradually making him hysterical. Unfortunately, not looking where he's going, the brown-haired boy tripped and fell face-first on the ground.

Looking over his shoulder, Shikamaru cursed under his breath and stopped, skidding forward a bit then ran back. Once he reached him, he grabbed the boy's wrist, pulled, and ran with his very life after swinging a very surprised Ruka onto his back.

"What The Hell Did You Do To Tick Them Off?!"

"WAAAAAH! I'M SORRY!!"

Grumbling, he turned to face forward to see a stream a good distance away. "Teh, troublesome!" He jumped into the trees and proceeded to leap from branch to branch with the bees. This didn't go unnoticed by the burden on his back.

"Uuuh, Shika-kun? What? You? Doing?"

He didn't answer.

That's when he looked up that he realized what he was up to.

"Shika-kun! Down! Now!" He half-grinned, sweating.

Just a littler closer now.

"Shika-kun! No! Don't! Stop!" He pleaded, flailing his feet to escape but failed.

There was no way he would do this! He rather fall twenty feet to the ground and get stung by those scary things than dive-bomb into a stream, thank you very much!

Almost...

"Stop! Shika-kun!"

There!

_"SHIKA-KUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!!"_

**SPLASH!**

_(NEXT SCENE)_

The sounds of gasping and splashing filled the silence as Shikamaru managed to pull his upper body onto the left side of the stream, panting heavily to rest his tired muscles. Once he got his breath back, he shifted his body so he could reach back to grab the boy's forearm then pulled until Ruka's upper body was on shore, too. "...Man...what a drag. ...Think you could...get up...on your own?" The shadow user panted as he pulled himself all the way out of the water.

There was no reply from him.

Blinking, the genin quickly reached down to grab his wrists and pulled him out of the water but didn't stop until he was sure he was far enough so he wouldn't fall back in. Releasing him, Shikamaru panted before wiping his arm across his forehead and sat on his hands and knees next to the brunette. He then noticed the boy was wearing different clothes once again. Instead of the white clothing he wore when he first met him, he wore a sleeveless, loose black muscle shirt and freshly-cut blue shorts that reached up to his thighs with fingerless gloves on without the metal plate (think of Revy from Black Lagoon).

Shaking his head, he leaned his head down so his ear was next to his mouth, trying to find a sign of life in him, waiting for only a few long moments.

...Crap. He's not breathing.

_'Man, what a drag. I guess he couldn't hold his breath very long. But I better do something or he'll die or something. Hmmm...what base of action should I take? ...Oh crap!'_

His face almost looked like a red tomato if his head didn't look like a pineapple but that was besides the point. He looked down to see Ruka still not regaining conscious nor breathing any time soon before looking around nervously then gulped. Rubbing his temple with a blush still on his cheeks, trying not to freak out but that was kind of hard to do. _'Dammit! Why do I have to be the only one around to do this? This is supposed to be a girl's job! Ugh, what a drag.'_

Promising himself to never mention this to anyone, Shikamaru leaned down while his left hand reached over the boy's face and pinched his nose closed. He stopped himself just nearly two inches from his lips, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before pressing his own lips against his, performing mouth-to-mouth respiration. Once he forced oxygen into him, he turned his head away to take a breath then repeated it at least three more times before sitting up and placing his hands over the brunette's chest. The blush had deminished a little bit where its only a faint tint as he pressed down, inwardly counting off seconds with each push before pausing and leaned down again to see if he was breathing.

None.

_'Crap. Not again. Teh, it can't be helped. Troublesome.'_ The genin thought.

Fortunately AND unfortunately for him, when he bent down to start the process over, Ruka suddenly started coughing up water that he had swallowed when he was just only a few inches away, which hit him straight-on in the face.

Grunting in irritation, he absent-mindedly blew at one of the wet bangs plastered to his face as the doe-eyed student quickly rolled to the opposite side and pushed his body up on his hands, coughing up all of the water trapped in his lungs on the ground. Once he was done, Ruka was now gasping and panting with a bit of choking before he sensed the genin's presense behind him. He whipped his head around to see the annoyed edge to his brow.

"Good to know you're up and have that kind of energy to spit in my face." Shikamaru grumbled, wiping his cheek.

"...Eh heh...sorry...?"

"Anyway, what was that about? About the bees, I mean."

Ruka blinked then grinned sheepishly, blushing a little as he rubbed the back of his head. "Hee hee, flowers! Step on. Didn't see. Hee hee!" He giggled. Sighing, he shifted until he sat on his rear and leaned back on his hands, staring up into the sky. "Should have known you would get into trouble. Teh, troublesome brat."

"AAH!"

He jumped, alert. "What? What is it now?!" He demanded, wondering if he hurt himself.

The brunette was near tears as he pointed towards the stream they had used to get away from the insects.

"M-M-My flowers! Gone! W-Want...(sob)...to! Give! I-Iruka-sensei! Kakashi-sensei! Hayate-sensei! Sh-Shika-kun! F...(hic)...F-Flowers!" He sniffed, his hands on his face in attempt to try and keep the tears from falling but failed rather miserably, as always.

He wasn't sure if he was either surprised or embarrassed by his explanation but either way, he felt his face heat up when he heard his name mentioned.

_'A flower? For me?! Teh, so troublesome.'_

Sighing, he leaned his head back with his eyes closed.

"You know, you didn't have to pick some troublesome flowers, you can just go to the flower shop Ino's family runs." He said.

That...wasn't the right thing to say.

Next thing he knew, Ruka's eyes began to overflow with tears before dipping his head down, trying to stifle his sobs with his hands but it came out muffled and quiet. The shadow user blinked then carefully reached a hand over to touch his shoulder. "Hey? Are you okay?" He asked.

_'He...He doesn't care. I wanted to give my teachers and Shika-kun a flower but...it doesn't matter to him. He'll probably throw them away when he gets home. ...I'm so stupid!'_

Before the hand was even an inch of him, the small child smacked his hand with his own, not lifting his head as his shoulders shook with restrained cries. His eyes widen at this when the brown-haired boy snapped his head up with a teary glare before he stood up as if trying to tower over him. "Try! Nice! Flowers but...don't! Appreciate! Anything I do! Keep! Say! Everything about me! Troublesome! Well...I disappear! Maybe! Wouldn't! So troublesome for you! Why? Think? Like it? Stupid Shika-kun! I Hate You!"

It felt like a slap to the face as he dumbly watched the eleven-year-old turn and ran away, bawling quite loudly. But almost as if time slowed down, he could've sworn he saw tears when he turned to run.

_'Oh crap. What did I do NOW? Man, what a drag.'_ He sighed, getting up.

But when he stood on his feet, he heard something from where the boy ran off to. "AAHHH!!" The student's voice screamed in said direction. Quickly responding, the genin ran towards the source to see smoke slowly surrounding the terrified child, who was currently trying to fan the smoke away from his eyes. But the more he got closer, the less he could see anything of the brunette besides the tiny gloved hand reaching out for him.

"RUKA!!"

_(NEXT SCENE)_

As he ran, he lifted an arm to wipe the tears that fell, not caring if he wasn't paying attention to where he was going.

_'Stupid, stupid, stupid! I should've never thought that giving him flowers would make him happy! He doesn't care! He thinks I'm too much trouble! Well, why don't I just go home? If there was a way, I want to go home right now!'_

Suddenly, Ruka noticed something was off. He jumped when smoke blocked his vision, forcing him to cover his mouth as he tried to figure out what was happening. Coughing with his left hand over his hand, he used the other to fan the smoke away but it was becoming too thick. Cracking an eye open, he looked down to see his feet were slowly disappearing into smoke, which he released a high-pitch scream. _"What's going on? Stop it! Lemme alone! Stop! Help!"_

"RUKA!!"

Wide, terrified brown eyes turned to see Shikamaru running over. Out of instinct, he reached a small hand out to him as the smoke went past his hips.

_"Shika-kun! Tetsudau! I'm So Scared!"_

"Ruka! Hold on!"

Unfortunately, when he stopped just a few feet in front of the smoke, he noticed that his body was slowly disappearing into smoke! This wasn't good. _'What's going on? Where did the smoke come from? There wasn't any trace of an enemy and no traps as far as I can see! Dammit! If I don't do something, I might lose him! Crap!'_ He grit his teeth and thrust a hand out to grab the out-stretched one.

"Here! Grab on!" He ordered, covering his mouth when the smoke enveloped him as well.

He felt a tiny hand latch onto his wrist, only to be quickly released as if he didn't have a good grip, which in return, he grabbed his hand and pulled, trying to get them both out of there but instead, felt something else in his hand before said hand slipped out of it. Tossing whatever it was away, he made a grab for the searching hand and pulled again but, for some reason, the boy wouldn't budge. The smoke was getting bigger and thicker, which made it harder for him to see as he continued to tug.

"Dammit! Ruka! Come on! We've got to get out of here!" He shouted.

"Can't! Move! Ow! SHIKA-KUN!!"

_'Crap!'_ Shikamaru forced himself to walk towards the boy to see that the smoke went up to Ruka's stomach and noticed that the top part of his head was disappearing as well. Grabbing the scared brunette, he hugged the child to his chest when the eleven-year-old's hands latched onto his shirt and pulled, desperately trying not to lose him before he got lost in the smoke. "Shika-kun! Scared! Don't go!" Ruka wailed, crying into his chest as the smoke reached above his chest. "I won't! Just tell me what's going on!" He hissed in response.

Before the smoke had reached his mouth, he screamed. _"SHIKA-KUN!!"_

And the next few moments, Shikamaru knew...he was gone.

_(NEXT SCENE)_

_'...Mmmm...nn...h-huh...? Wha...Where am I?'_

_"Hey! Get someone over here!"_

_'Who's that? Shika-kun? Is that you?'_

_"A kid just came out of the coavayerbelt!"_

_"Oh my god! What happened?!"_

_'What? That's...not Shika-kun. Coavayerbelt? Wha??'_

_"Is she dead?"_

_"Hey, Fujita. You better take a look at this."_

_"Whoa! Now THAT'S something you don't see every day!"_

Ruka felt something or some_one_ pick him up in their arms and groaned, which stilled the person holding him. _"The kid's breathing at least. I wonder how she got in there."_ A male voice murmured. _"Maybe her parents are still around. But we better check to see if she's okay then we'll look for her parents."_ Another voice suggested.

The brunette didn't hear anymore as he fell back into unconsciousness once more, thinking only one thing.

_'I'm...home...'_

--(END SCENE)--

Tetsudau (help)

Name no baka (stupid name)

Naruto: HEY! I wasn't even in this one!

CF: Shut up! Maybe some other time!

Shikamaru: Teh, troublesome. Why was I in there?

CF: 'Cause.

Shikamaru: Whatever. (gazes at sky)

CF: Anyway, in case people couldn't understand what Ruka was yelling, here's the full version of what he's trying to say in Japanese.

"I tried to be nice by giving you flowers but you don't appreciate anything I do! You keep saying everything about me is so troublesome! Well, how about I just disappear, maybe it wouldn't be so troublesome for you! Why did I even think you might like it? Stupid Shika-kun! I Hate You!"

CF: Well, hope you like it 'cause I'll be making another one pretty soon! Hopefully just as fast! Bye bye!

Ruka: BYE BYE! (waves both hands in air)


	9. Forgotten

Mission 9 - "Forgotten."

_To the left, to the right, everywhere and everything was completely black and empty, save for one little boy curled up on its hollow surface. His face held slight pain and agony as a graon escaped his lips, slowly regaining consciousness. Squeezing his eyes tight for a moment then hesitantly fluttered his eyes open a few times before sitting up from his fetal position. Ruka shook and held his head in his right hand, groaning some more before looking around to see exactly where he is._

_"...Uh...where...am I?" He mumbled to himself._

_"Hey. Are you all right?"_

_Ruka turned to look behind him and saw what appeared to be a human being standing just a few feet away from him...well, at least most of him, from what he could see. The head of the boy was completely shadowed except from up to the mouth and down, wearing the kind of odd clothes that he had seen only in the anime conventions he went to whenever the chance presented itself. The voice made it obvious he was a male but...why did it sound familar to him and speaking Japanese?_

_'Is he...like Mama and Papa?' He thought mildly._

_"U-Um...who are you? And, uh, yes...I mean, no! Wait, yes! Ooooh, I don't know!" He clutched his head, dipping it downwards a bit and closed his eyes tightly as if trying to shut the pain out. Then cursed quietly to himself. Of course he wouldn't understand him! He doesn't know how to speak English so how would he know what he just said?!_

_...Wait a minute. How did he understand him when he hardly knew any Japanese? Maybe it was natural or something._

_While Ruka pondered this, the boy shrugged and raised his arm to place on the opposite shoulder as if trying to relax any sore muscles that might be there. "Hn, what a drag. Are you going to sit there and cry all day?"_

_The brunette was taken back, insulted. "N-No! I-"_

_"Or..." He interrupted, "...do you want to come with me?" He finished, turning his head to the side as if he was embarrassed._

_At that, he stared up at the boy for a minute, trying to comprehend the taller boy's rather unexpected offer before blinking rather innocently. 'What? Is he trying to...cheer me up? But...why is he doing that? I don't know him...or do I?'_

_The brunette slowly look down from his face to the hand, which was somehow offered to him during his train of thoughts. Narrowing his brown eyes a bit, he stared suspiciously at it for a moment before cautiously reaching out a small hand. Just when it was about to touch the boy's hand, he pulled back suddenly, meeting only air in his wake. Ruka blinked then looked up to see the stranger's back was to him. "Never mind. You better go back home. You're so troublesome." He said over his back before calmly walking away._

_"No! Wait! Shika-kun! Wait!" Ruka called. Then blinked. 'Shika-kun? Why did I say that?'_

_Before he could get up and give chase after the boy, the floor beneathe him gave way and he fell with a scream._

He leapt up from the bed into a sit-up position, panting in short, quick breaths with eyes wide open and sweat glimming on what's exposed of his skin behind those white clothes, as if he had been running for miles on end. Looking around from side to side and everywhere else, he soon realized that he was in the hospital on a clean, sterile white bed in some random room with an IV stuck in his arm. By the looks of things, he had been there for a while, judging by the empty IV bags discarded in the trash ben near the door. Lifting a hand to the back of his neck, he gave his head a good shake then shifted his sights down on himself to see that he was dressed in a hospital gown and a strip of paper on his right wrist.

_"...Uuh...how did I...end up in the hospital? I don't remember going here. Where's Papa?"_ He mumbled quietly to himself.

While Ruka began to wonder how on earth did he get to the hospital, the door opened to reveal a man in a long white coat standing between the doorway. The way he peered in like that, he knew that he was a doctor coming to check up on his patient, which happens to be him today. The doctor smiled upon seeing his patient wide awake and entered the room while closing the door behind him, giving the confused child a friendly smile to show he meant no harm. _"I see that you're awake now. You've been asleep for three days."_ He stated as he sat on a empty chair nearby.

_'Three days? I was out for three days? Papa must be worried if I stayed in the hospital for that long!'_ Ruka thought.

_"The employees, who work at the airport, informed me that they found you coming out of the coavayerbelt, unconscious and dripping wet like you just recently went swimming. It was the most interesting story I've ever heard."_ He chuckled lightly.

_"Coavayerbelt? What's that?"_ He asked, giving his full attention to the doctor.

_"Have you ever been to the airport?"_

Ruka nodded. _"Mm-hm! Me and Papa go there every summer to go to Japan!"_

_"I see. Do you remember the last time you went to the airport?"_

It was then that the boy started thinking, trying to recall when he and his father left, which was usually two days after school ended before heading towards the airport. He did recall going to the airport. Then getting seperated from his father when the place was crowded that day. And then nothing.

_'What happened after that? I don't remember getting on the coavayerbelt or anything like that. I remember everything else and then...then the rest is blank until I woke up here.'_ Hesitantly, he shook his head.

_"I see. Did you go to the airport this summer?"_ He tried again.

Ruka thought hard, trying to remember if he did go. Actually, he knew that he went to the airport at least two or three days after school was out for the summer with his father. But why couldn't he remember what happened afterwards before he woke up in the hospital? It just didn't make sense. I mean, how did he end up in the hospital without even knowing why? He doesn't remember anything besides being seperated from his father but nothing else after that. It was just a blank, refusing the reveal its secrets to him. Why couldn't he remember?!

_"...Uuh...yeah, we did. Me and Papa...we went to the airport...like always but me and...Pa...pa...nnn..."_ The boy then lift a hand to his forehead, rubbing it as if trying to ease the pain there as he tried to find his memories but no such luck. The doctor quickly stood up and placed a hand on Ruka's back in a comforting way as he checked to see if he was running a fever.

Seeing that his patient isn't running a fever, the doctor closed his eyes and crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair for a moment as if he was choosing his words before opening his eyes again. _"Hmm, it seems that you might have amnesia. I'm not sure how since you don't remember much of what happened but I'm guessing it must have been tramatizing. Summer was almost two months ago!"_ He mumbled, tapping a finger to his chin in thought.

_"...Am...ne...sia? What's that?"_ The brunette asked, curious about this "amnesia" thing he was talking about.

_"Amnesia is when you have an abnormal loss of your memory. Its different when you forgot things like, for example, you forgot to do your homework. Amnesia is when you forget almost everything but sometimes, its only a portion or all of your memories. Hopefully, it won't be permanent and your memories will return soon."_ He smiled reassuringly like everything he just said will be all right.

_"Oh. Okay...TWO MONTHS?!"_

_"Eh?"_

The poor doctor could only watch as Ruka started ranting and practically bouncing off the walls as he ran around the room. _"No! That can't be! Two months haven't gone by! That's not possible! Two months couldn't have passed when it was only just today! What day is it?! It has to be June 6th! I left on the third and somehow wake up in the hospital three days later! I-It just has to...has to..."_ With a whimper, the brunette's eyes began to overflow with tears. Finally, unable to hold back his sobs, the boy stood up straight, tilted his head back, and wailed.

Loudly.

_"WAAAAAAHH!!"_

The doctor immediately jumped up and went to comfort the child but Ruka continued to sob and cry as if he couldn't even hear him. Fat tears dripped down his cheeks and off his chin to the floor as his small fists rubbed his eyes. The doctor sighed as he watched and waited for the small child to calm down on his own, sitting back down on the chair. Even though he waited, Ruka's cries only seem to get louder and longer as he wailed in front of the doctor.

_**Hey, hey! You're just fine. You don't gotta cry about it.**_

_"...Huh?"_ Ruka blinked and snapped his head up, his face stained with tears as he looked around for the source of the voice.

_**If you were bleeding then you have something to cry about!**_

The doctor watched the boy very carefully when he suddenly stopped his crying to a halt and choose to look around as if he didn't realize where he was. But the way he looked around like that didn't look like he just noticed where he is but more like he was looking for something. He was about to call out to him but realized that he haven't even gotten the boy's name. He cursed inwardly for forgetting such an important thing but stopped when he noticed Ruka's eyes seemed...glazed over.

_"...Sh...Shika...-kun...where are you?"_ Was the only thing he managed to whisper before passing out.

_(NEXT SCENE)_

Snapping his eyes open, Shikamaru groaned as he reluctantly pushed himself up on his bed and threw the blackets off of his body. He swung his legs over until his feet touched the floor and sat on the side of his bed, a hand to his face and another resting on his left knee. _'Dammit. I could've sworn I heard him call for me. Great, now I'm hearing things. Troublesome.'_ The genin thought, switching his hand from his face to rub the back of his neck.

With a yawn, he scanned the room with tired eyes before grumbling and lying back in his bed without pulling the covers back up. He just laid there, staring at the ceiling with his arms behind his head. _'I wonder why he disappeared like that. I would like to ask but no one has seen nor heard from him for three weeks. Crap. It seems like everything about him spells trouble.'_ He snorted.

_--FLASHBACK--_

_"Hmm...so Ruka just vanished in some sort of smoke? And you haven't seen him since then? Weird." Chouji mumbled around his chip. _

_Shikamaru grumbled as he laid on the grassy hill, staring up at the cloudy sky next to his good friend, Chouji, who snacked on potato chips. He had gone to him to clear his mind because, unlikely most, he was troubled with many thoughts. It had been a few hours since Ruka disappeared before his very eyes and the only thing left behind was the glove he had taken during the fiasco. Even though he was supposed to be training, he just couldn't feel the need to listen, too many things running through his mind._

_**Stupid Shika-kun! I Hate You!**_

_He frowned, the brunette's angry words still echoing in his head but shook it off._

_"Yeah. This is all that's left of him. I grabbed this when I tried to help him." The genin held up the glove he threw earlier in his left hand._

_The chubby boy tilted his head to look at it and turned around to find their teammate and sensei were sitting, drinking a cup of hot tea or smoking nearby. "Have you told anyone about it?" He asked. The lazy genin shook his head._

_"No, not yet. I want to try and figure out what the hell happened back there before telling anyone."_

_"But you can't keep it a secret forever. Someone's bound to notice since he's so popular!"_

_"I know! That's why I'm going to tell Asuma-sensei so he can inform his sensei. It's too troublesome to find him on my own, anyway."_

_Chouji stared at him with a hard stare, studying him a bit, which he noticed almost immediately. "What?" He grumbled. "...Did something happen?" He asked, straight-forward. The brunette twitched slightly. "What do you mean?" Shikamaru sat up with his hands supporting him from behind. "Well, you've been acting kind of strange. I mean, your idea didn't sound all that smart. Usually, you would go look for people yourself, even though you say its troublesome. But you're sitting here, acting as if there's nothing wrong." He explained knowingly._

_There was a somewhat comfortable yet, awkward silence between the boys until the shadow user laid back down on his side and closed his eyes, back facing Chouji. But his gluttony friend just sat there, bag in his lap, patiently waiting for him to talk when he wanted to. Finally, he heard something that sounded like talking but couldn't tell. "What was that?"_

_"...Earlier...after I saved him from drowning...I said something he didn't like." He replied._

_"Like what?"_

_Shikamaru sighed and open his eyes a little. "I said he could have bought flowers at the shop." He mumbled._

_"Why'd you say that?"_

_"He picked some flowers to give to me and the senseis but I made him cry and run off. That's when he disappeared."_

_The chubby boy stared in complete shock, trying to decide whether to be sympathic or neuteral in the situation. He choose the second one. Munching on a chip, he looked ahead to see their blonde kunoichi and sensei were still nearby, talking about something. "Hm, nothing weird there. But that was mean, Shikamaru. You're a nice guy to hang around with, you're super smart, AND you gave me a bag of chips!" He tried to reason, though it failed. "Does everything to you have to involve food?" The brunette smirked lazily, flipping on his back again._

_"Hm, pretty much. But really, you're an all-around nice guy so why'd you make him cry?"_

_Sigh. "I don't know. But I know a few things for certain."_

_"Eh? And what are those?"_

_"He's too sensitive for a boy. He cries too easily, whines when he doesn't get his way, always wants someone to be with, not all that smart, has a big mouth, and all those other troublesome things. He's too needy and trusting for a ninja, more like a troublesome brat if you ask me. And he always calls me Shika-kun and acts like a girl whenever I'm around. Teh, troublesome." Shikamaru snorted and closed his eyes again, the annoyed edge back. He heard nothing from his friend so he took that as sign of agreement...for the moment. Realizing that his friend was a little too quiet, he opened his eyes and glanced over to see Chouji was smiling a little too wide for his liking. It was starting to make him nervous and he was pretty sure he knew the reason behind that grin. He sat up almost instantly._

_"Stop that."_

_Grins wider. "Hee hee, could it be..."_

_"Keep quiet! Ino might hear you!"_

_"...that Ruka might..."_

_"Chouji, I'm warning you."_

_The chubby boy paused dramatically before slyly whispering in his ear. "...have a crush on you?"_

_There was another silence between them, this time more serious than the last one until the lazy genin leaned his head back to stare at the clouds. To others, who didn't know him very well, his expression was hard to read but to Chouji, he knew he hit the right button as he waited patiently, grinning the entire time._

_In all honestly, he was happy to see that at least this person wasn't like Sasuke's many fan girls or one of many other ninjas and citizens who talk about how skilled and smart he is. Ruka didn't seem to care about that at all, always happy about almost everything. Hell, if you say something nice about him, he probably would be your best friend without another thought. That's how it looked to him. He didn't look too fond of the Uchiha like Ino but more fond of his best friend. Good for him._

_Snapping out of his train of thought, he heard a sigh coming from Shikamaru's direction and paid close attention as said friend looked straight ahead where their team was. He watched Ino very closely, not wanting her to overhear what they were discussing about then raised a hand to rub the stiffness in the back of his neck. "...Yeah. He does." The shadow user mumbled._

_Chouji smiled and continued to snack. "Thought as much. When did you notice this?"_

_"When we first met." He answered almost immediately._

_"He's not good at hiding stuff, huh?"_

_"Nope. The brat's too easy to read."_

_"So what are you going to do about it?"_

_"Hmm...probably tell him I'm not like that. Tell him to go look for someone else." He thought out loud. His friend frowned at this. "How come? He looks like your type. Even though he's popular, he's pretty much average looking. He's not too skinny and not too big. And besides, you keep saying girls are troublesome and Ruka is a boy." Chouji pointed out._

_"I realized that already. He is average, despite what everyone says. He could easily fit in with the villagers instead of trying to become a ninja. And he acts more like a girl than a boy most of the time. But I told you what I wanted to do with my life, right?" He looked over his shoulder._

_He nodded with a sigh. "Yeah. You want to live a normal life and have a normal job. Then you want to find a normal girl to marry, who's not too pretty or ugly, and have two kids, one boy and one girl. Then finally, retire from your job when you're old and play shougi all day until you die, right?"_

_"Mmhmm."_

_"But he's still a pretty good match for you, even though he's a boy and he can't give you any kids. So what's wrong?"_

_The lazy genin sighed heavily. "You don't seem to get it. Sure, he's cute and all but he's a boy. And I'm not gay."_

_"Oh. Right. Forgot about that."_

_"Teh, troublesome."_

_"..."_

_"..."_

_"...But you know, I heard a lot of his fans want to marry him, including adults."_

_"..."_

_"Uuh, Shikamaru? You okay?"_

_"Yeah. Just wondering when you're going to stop talking about that."_

_"Oh. Sorry."_

_"..."_

_"...So...what are you going to tell everyone? About his disappearance?"_

_He groaned as he fell back on his back on the grass. Why does he have to be so persistant? With a sigh, he stared at the clouds, which were floating by as if without a care in the world. They didn't know how lucky they had it. "Well, nothing I can do but tell them what happened. I was thinking about telling Asuma-sensei but I will probably end up reporting it to the Hokage." He shrugged._

_Chouji nodded as he reached in his bag, only to feel that there was no more chips to munch on. He sighed sadly. "Well, good luck. I just hope Ruka is okay."_

_--END FLASHBACK--_

"Dammit. I didn't mean to make him cry! Man, what a drag!" Shikamaru turned on his side, trying to shake off the guilt that had been eating away at him.

He closed his eyes for a few minutes, appearing stern yet, peaceful but inside his head, he was anything but peaceful. Memories of that day were still burned into his subconsciousness. It reminded him almost daily and started to make him a little anxious and irritable about things he usually found serenity in. The whole thing was starting to get to him, seeing how this was his fault for making Ruka run away like that.

He opened his eyes again and almost growled in annoyance at his lack of sleep before staring out the window, mildly noticing the dark night sky was sparkling with bright stars above them.

_'Teh. Ever since then, the Hokage said not to be worried too much about it but keep an eye out for him in case he ever came back from...wherever the hell he came from. Dammit. They're hiding something and that something has to do with Ruka. What is it that they're hiding? I know that Team Seven brought him back from the Wave Country but Ruka didn't say anything about what village he's from.'_ He thought.

Usually, he'd be able to come up with some suggestions but with Ruka, it was like a puzzle except there were a few pieces missing before he could solve the mystery.

Shikamaru sighed as he pushed himself up enough to pull the blankets over his body again to keep warm from the cool night breeze and continued to stare out the window for a few minutes. But soon enough, he closed his eyes and yawned once more before snuggling deeper in his blankets.

_'Oh well. I'll find out later. Its too troublesome to think so late at night..."_ With that in mind, he went back into another light sleep.

--(END SCENE)--

Kunoichi (female ninja)

CF: I AM SO SORRY! I was so late with my updating! I had a major writer's block and other things to worry about! Don't worry! I seem to be getting back into my writing spirit so I'll try to update faster to make up for the lost time! Also, I'm not making anymore of these little talks at the end of each chapter except for the Japanese-to-English explanations cause it takes up too much time and loses my focus! Besides, the new changes that came about while I wasn't updating aren't working for me, especially, when I'm changing scenes or start/ending the chapter! Anyway, I'm sorry! Please forgive me!

Ruka: (puppy-dog look) Please? Read? Review? Pleaseeee??


	10. Familiar Feelings

Mission 10 - "Familiar feelings."

Almost a month has passed since Ruka had woken up from the hospital, who later was reunited with his father a week after that. His father, Seiichi, was very happy and grateful to have finally found his son after two months since they went to the airport. Even though he had asked his father what happened, all he could get was, _"I don't know. We just arrived there and the next thing I knew, we were seperated!"_

It was rather disappointing that his father honestly had no answer for him but he didn't mind. Ruka was just glad to be back with him, safe and sound. He may have amnesia and not sure what could have been so horrible for him to block it out of his memories but now that his father was happy, he was happy, too.

Today was Thursday, September the 13th.

School had started almost a week after he had returned home, which meant he had to start sixth grade this year. He was happy to be back in school, it was always fun. Sure, he didn't like how the guys seem to be getting much bolder with their advances each year but he knew how to take care of himself.

Right now, he was having lunch with a friend outside on the fairly large playground, sitting on the picnic tables while happily chatting away about random things just like any normal little boys and girls. But not Ruka. No, he was far from that. He kept rubbing his temple as he ate little of the food his father had prepared for him. His head always seemed to hurt but that might be because he kept attempting to remember what he had forgotten a month ago. But no matter how much he tried, nothing came back to answer his questions.

_'What was it? Why can't I remember? It feels like its important. Well, all my memories are important but still...I can't shake off the feeling that there was something...something about that dream I had some time ago. And that boy...just who exactly is he?'_ He thought, sighing and shaking his head at his own thoughts.

_"...uka?"_

_'What am I thinking? It was just a dream. I shouldn't be so focused on that dream. Its probably something I saw on my anime shows. Yeah. That's got to be it!'_ Ruka nodded, agreeing with his own logic.

_"Hey! Ruka!"_

_"Huh?"_ The brunette blinked up to see the annoyed look on his friend, Scott. It took him a second to realize he wasn't paying any attention at all to what he was saying. _"Oh! Sorry, Scott. I wasn't paying attention."_ Ruka grinned sheepishly. Scott glared for a second then sighed. _"You know, you've been doing that a lot lately. I mean, you didn't even notice that your fan girls are over there, drooling over you again."_ He pointed to the area where said fan girls loomed under the tree.

Ruka looked over his shoulder once, smiled sheepishly, and waved a bit weakly, receiving lots of squeals and happy sighs from them. He turned back with a grimance while Scott just snickered behind his hand. It took a few minutes for Scott to recover from his laughter before turning his attention back on his friend, who was giving him a rather annoyed expression.

_"You done laughing now?"_ Ruka grumbled, miffed.

_"Yeah, I'm done. Anyway, I'm serious here. Is something wrong?"_ His friend asked, both worried and curious.

He sighed deeply and leaned on the right, his elbow on the table with his head on his hand. _"I don't know. I keep thinking about this dream I had before school started. Nothing to worry about!"_ He offered a smile to reassure his friend but it didn't work.

_"Well, what's it about? And don't tell me its nothing cause I won't believe it!"_ Scott cut him off before he could say anything.

He pouted for a second then sighed again. _"Well, okay. I'll tell you."_ And Ruka proceeded to explain his dream. As he explained the dream he had a month ago, he tried to put in as many details as possible about the mystery guy. Though he couldn't see his face, he described what he wore and his voice a little. Near the end of the conversation, Ruka noticed that Scott was very quiet and looked over to see a solemn face of his friend. _"Scott? What is it?"_

His blonde friend rubbed the back of his neck while slowly trying to choose the right words to say. _"...Well, the guy from your dream sounds a lot like that lazy guy from the Naruto show you watch."_ He muttered seriously.

_'Ah-ha! I knew it! It IS one of my...wait a minute. Naruto? Wha?'_ The brunette gave him a weird look.

_"...What?"_

_"What's a Naruto?"_

There was silent between them for a few long moments before Scott's brain slowly registered what he just asked. _"Wh-What did you say?"_ The blonde asked. _"Um, what's a Naruto?"_ Ruka repeated meekly, nervous under his stare. He continued to stare at him for a good long time in utter disbelief, not sure whether he was faking ignorance or not, and decided to voice his own thoughts. _"What Do You Mean What's A Naruto?! You've Been Watching It Ever Since You Got It!!"_

Ruka didn't know why but the name Naruto sounded familiar to him. It felt like he knew what he was talking about but at the same time, he had no clue what a Naruto was. All he knew is that its a fish cake. But why would Scott know the proper Japanese word for fish cake? Did he teach him that or was it at random? Now that he remembered, he still need to learn his father's language but right now, there are more important matters.

_"I did? So it is an anime?"_

_"Yeah! Its like your all-time favorite! And I can't believe you forgot about Shikamaru! You always talked about him whenever we bring up that subject!"_

_'...Shi...ka...ma...ru? Why does it sound...so...'_

He rubbed the side of his head when a dull pain started aching upon just saying that name. Scott was at his side at a moment's notice, worry painted all over his face. _"Hey! You okay?"_ He asked worriedly. _"Y-Yeah. I'm fine. Just that my head started to hurt all of a sudden. I dunno why it does-ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!"_ The pain came back, only a bit stronger than last time.

It hurt so much that he didn't even remember where he was, focused only on the pain. Placing a hand on each side of his head, Ruka tried to shake it off but that only made it worse. _"Ruka! Hey! You okay? Ruka!"_ Scott tried to get an answer out of him but received nothing. Instead, he watched as Ruka swung his right hand as if reaching to hold onto something but missed and knocked over what remains of his lunch, which threw him off balance and fell backwards off his seat to the ground. _"RUKA!!"_

Even though he was in so much pain, he could still hear his friend's voice calling him. But it was slowly being overpowered by another voice.

Who is it? Whose calling him? Scott?

...No, that couldn't be. He heard him earlier so it had to be a different person. But who is it?!

He tried opening his eyes but instead of seeing his friend, he saw the same shadowy boy from his dream standing over him. He couldn't tell if he was the second person calling his name but the sharp pain pulled him back into reality and groaned, curling up into a little ball on his side with his hands on his head again.

_"Ruka! Wait here! I'll go get the teacher!"_ That time, he knew for sure that was Scott.

The other voice seemed to have vanished as quickly as it came, just like its owner. Ruka can feel the darkness pulling him down into unconsciousness as he struggled to stay awake. But the thought of no pain in a blissful slumber was quite delightful so he let it take him. But as he fell into the darkness, he managed to open his eyes to see where his friend was running to but was replaced by the shadowy back of the dream boy. Slowly, he lifted a hand to touch it but stopped and let it fall in the grass, watching the shadow for a few long moments as his eyes slowly closed shut.

_'Shikamaru...just __**who**__ are you?'_

_(NEXT SCENE)_

"Aww, we haven't seen or heard from Ruka-kun in a while. I wonder where he is." Sakura sighed sadly.

"He's probably busy with studying at the academy." Naruto nodded, agreeing with his own logic.

"But still. We should've at LEAST seen him when we pass by."

"I'm sure he's fine. He's not a girl, you know."

The last surviving Uchiha just leaned against the railing of the bridge, their meeting point before they started their missions. Of course, their jounin sensei hasn't arrived yet but what's new? He glanced over to see his teammates still conversating amongst themselves about the same thing they've been talking about first thing in the morning for the past couple of weeks. Man, why couldn't he be put in a normal team?

"Yo! Good morning."

Speak of the devil.

All three turned up and glared where the voice came from, which was from on the railing a little further. It was their teacher, Kakashi Hatake, crouching on the balls of his feet, eye smiling and pulled out a hand in a sort of wave. "I got lost today on the road of life, so..."

Here it comes...

"YOU'RE LATE!!"

Bingo.

_(NEXT SCENE)_

_Sometime later that afternoon..._

"Man, what a day. These missions are so troublesome." Shikamaru yawned loudly.

He stretched his arm in the air while his hand went behind his head and grabbed the forearm of its opposite, pulling only slightly for a few seconds before dropping them back down and stuffed his hands in his pockets. Sighing, he headed straight for home, trying to think of other things besides his duties as a full-feldged ninja. It wasn't that hard, though.

He stopped in his tracks after several minutes in front of his house to stare at the clouds for a minute or two before sighing once more and entered the building. Walking straight for the kitchen, he found that his mother wasn't there but shrugged and made his way to the fridge. He opened it and frowned when he noticed the lacking of produce inside and figured that's why his mother wasn't here, nagging and yelling like always.

He shook his head at the thought of his mother. _'Troublesome.'_

Closing the fridge, he decided to grab a banana from the basket in the middle of the table since it was the only edible food around. After peeling the peel off, he took a bite and stood there for a while until all that was left was the banana peel. Throwing it into a nearby basin and grabbing another, he walked out of the kitchen to his room to drop off his weapon pouch and anything ninja related before, once again, heading to leave the house.

Once outside the house, he headed for his usual spot for cloud watching, which was close by the area where his team often train in. Swallowing the remains of his banana, he held the banana peel in front of him like a rag and stared at it with a rather bored like expression, as always. He looked around to see if there was a trash bin anywhere nearby before disposing it in said bin outside of the flower shop his female companion's family run.

Shikamaru stared at the shop after getting rid of the peel, unable to look away from the daisies that sat in a flower pot near the entrance inside the tiny building.

He still remembered that day when the eleven-year-old brunette tried to give him the supposedly dying flowers after diving into the stream to get away from a swarm of angry bees but they were washed away. It was still burned into his memory. That boy just didn't know when enough was enough.

Ruka. Ambitious, sweet, innocent little Ruka.

The shadow user chuckled lightly to himself, shaking his head as a shadow fell over his eyes before walking away. It took less than ten minutes to reach his favorite cloud gazing spot and, within seconds, he was staring straight into the wide, bright, clear blue skies above on his back and arms behind his head. A soft sigh escaped his lips, his mind and thoughts plagued by images of his small friend, whom has disappeared weeks before.

Just what about him seemed to nag into his thoughts?

It was probably from guilt. For making Ruka cry and disappear in a puff of smoke.

After all, it is his fault, right?

_'Crap. That brat sure is a pain in the neck when he wants to be. Teh, troublesome.'_ He scoffed, shaking his head.

_**Keep! Say! Everything about me! Troublesome! Well...I disappear! Maybe! Wouldn't! So troublesome for you!**_

A frown crossed his lips when Ruka's angry words echoed back into his thoughts like some annoying insect that just couldn't die, no matter how much you swat at it. The clouds above him continued to float on by as he remained on the grass, staring into the sky but no longer paying any attention to it. _'Dammit. Can't think straight. ...Ngh...oww...my head hurts.'_ He made a face as he lifted a hand to his forehead, trying to ease the growing headache.

Apparently, this was becoming a routine.

Every time he thought of the younger brunette, his head would start hurting. Sighing in frustration, he pushed himself up into sitting position and stared at the ground at his feet. He seemed to be in deep thought before standing up and walking away from his spot back into the village with lazy determinitation...if you call it determinitation.

_(NEXT SCENE)_

With a long yawn, Sousuke put his hand down as he watched Nanami practice her weaponry skills in flinging her kunais and shurikens at a dummy, which was pinned against the tree. It had been exactly a little over, wait, well over a month since he last saw their smallest and youngest teammate come up for training. It was like he up and disappeared all of a sudden. His brows furrowed, narrowing his eyes and seethed quietly.

And it all was HIS fault.

_'Damn him! Because of him, Ru-Ru's gone and its all his fault! Now we don't even know if he's here or back home or some other unknown worldly place! Sure, I tease him and make him mad but I wouldn't do anything I know I can't fix! Dammit!'_

The kunoichi jumped a little and whirled around to see that Sousuke had punched the tree that he was sitting under, only to yell and curse profusely as he held his now bruised fist. She sighed and put her hands on her hips, giving him an exasperate look. "Okay. I understand how you feel and everything but you really didn't have to take it out on the tree." Nanami lectured.

"Shut up. I know that. Fuck, that hurt!"

"And stop with the language. Hayate-sensei may not mind but I DO."

"Again, shut up. Who the hell put you in charge of what I do?"

"Geez! I'm just asking if you don't do that around me! Is that so bad?!"

"You know, you're starting to piss me off!"

"Same here, idiot!"

They glared at each other for one long minute, both not willing to be the first to back down from the other. But their little stare down was interrupted when Hayate interfered. "Alright, that's enough (cough, cough) arguing." The sickly jounin coughed behind his hand. The genins glared at each other for a good few seconds before turning away with a humph. Hayate looked back and forth between his stubborn genin and sighed with a cough.

_'Oh god, can't someone just take my place? I can't take this anymore.'_

**--**

Itai (ow; ouch)


End file.
